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AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY CHEMICAL CODE AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 1) 2003 NO. 8

Statutory Rules 2003 No. 8

Minute No. of 2003 - Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry

Subject -        Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994

Agricultural and Veterinary Chemical Code Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 1)

Section 6 of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Code to be prescribed by regulations within the meaning of the Code.

Section 3 of the Act defines "the Code" as the Agvet Code of the participating territories and Section 5(1) of the Act provides that the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code set out in the Schedule to the Act may be referred to as the Agvet Code of the participating Territories.

Section 93 of the Code provides that the regulations may declare a chemical to be a restricted chemical product, provided that the National Registration Authority for Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (NRA) has certified in writing that this is in the public interest.

Under section 94 of the Code, a person must not supply or cause or permit, a restricted chemical product to be supplied to a person who is not authorised to use the product under another law of this jurisdiction.

On 29 November 2002, the delegate of the NRA certified, pursuant to the Code, that it is in the public interest for all chemical products containing mevinphos to be declared by the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Regulations 1995 (the principal regulations) to be restricted chemical products.

Regulation 45 of the principal regulations states that a chemical product specified in Schedule 4 of the principal regulations is declared to be a restricted chemical product.

These Regulations add all products containing mevinphos to the list of restricted chemical products, as set out in Schedule 4 of the principal regulations.

This change reflects the results of a recent supplementary review of mevinphos products by the NRA.

Mevinphos is a broad spectrum organophosphorous insecticide used in Australia for control of a specific insect pest, diamondback moth.

The NRA reviewed mevinphos in 1997 in response to concerns about the potential risk of toxicity of mevinphos, particularly in relation to occupational exposure. As a result of that review, all uses of products containing mevinphos were withdrawn, except in brassica production (crops such as cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts).

The continuation of use in brassica production was conditional on the generation of new data on user safety. Pending that data being given to the NRA, authority for the supply of the product was suspended. The data has now been provided to the NRA and a final supplementary review report completed. The NRA adopted the final supplementary review report in October 2002 and lifted the suspension on the supply of mevinphos products.

A key finding of the supplementary review was that special knowledge, skills and qualifications are required in the preparation and handling of mevinphos products. In order to ensure that access to the product is limited to persons who are appropriately trained, the review report recommended that mevinphos products should be declared to be restricted chemical products and thereby available for supply to authorised persons only.

The Regulations add the following to Schedule 4 of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Regulations:

•       A chemical product containing mevinphos.

The Regulations commence on gazettal.

Authority:       Section 6 of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994