Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
You may need a qualification called a certificate of competence if you use agricultural pesticides.
In Northern Ireland you should read Section 2; Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products
DAERA: Code of practice for using plant protection products
Current guidance on changes to pesticide spraying laws, pesticides stores and pesticide product labels is available from DAERA.
DAERA: Pesticide regulations guidance
In Scotland, read section 2 of the code for using plant protection products to find out if you need a certificate of competence.
Scottish Government: Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products
On 26 November 2015 Grandfather Rights expired (they may have applied if you spray on your own or your employers land) and pesticide spraying must always be carried out by someone with the appropriate certificate.
You must make sure that your pesticide application equipment has been tested at least once by 26 November 2016 unless it is less than five years old on that date. Knapsacks and handheld sprayers are exempt from this regulation but must be kept in good condition.
Scottish Government: Changes to pesticide rules
Current guidance on changes to pesticide spraying laws, pesticides stores and pesticide product labels is available from DAERA.
DAERA: Pesticide regulations guidance
In Scotland you can find details of your nearest sprayer test centre on the National Sprayer Testing Scheme website.
In Northern Ireland you should follow the guidance in Section 4 Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products.
DAERA: Code of practice for using plant protection products
In Scotland you must comply with the requirements of GBR 23 - As of 01 January 2018 GBR 23 has been revised. It now only applies to the storage and application of pesticides that are plant protection products and a new rule has been included to allow the application of herbicide to control non-native species of plants on river banks. For more details on the revision of GBR 23 go to the future legislation pages.
You must apply pesticides in accordance with the terms and instructions of the product approval, follow the instructions carefully. You must also spray pesticides in a way that the risk of pollution is minimised.
Prepare the pesticides for spraying, and clean and maintain equipment at least 10 m away from any burn, ditch, river, wetland, loch, estuary or coastal water. If you use water from any of these sources to dilute the pesticide you must use an intermediate container, or fit a device that prevents back siphoning.
You must avoid spraying:
If you carry out aerial spraying you must make sure that:
CRD: Aerial spraying permitting arramgements
You must have approval from your environmental regulator before using herbicides on aquatic weeds or weeds on the banks of watercourses such as rivers, ditches or lochs/loughs.
In Northern Ireland you should read Section 3.8.10 of the Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products – Preventing pesticides from Contaminating Surface Water and Ground Water
DAERA: Code of practice for using plant protection products
In Scotland:
Pesticide must not be applied within 1m of any river, burn, ditch, wetland, loch, transitional or coastal water unless:
For certain pesticides that you apply using ground crop sprayers or broadcast air-assisted sprayers you need to maintain an aquatic buffer strip between the area you spray and watercourses. The product label will specify the width of the buffer strip that you will have to maintain.
Under certain circumstances, and depending on the pesticide used, you may be able to reduce this aquatic buffer.
If you want to reduce the width of this strip you will also need to carry out and record a Local EnvironmentalRisk Assessment for Pesticides (LERAP).
CRD: Local Environmental Risk Assessment for Pesticides
DAERA has produced a guide to help farmers understand the requirements of Integrated Pest Management.
DAERA: Integrated Pest Management Guidance
DAERA: Code of practice for using plant protection products
Scottish Government: Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products in Scotland
SRUC: Using pesticides information leaflet
The HSE provides a database of pesticides (includes herbicides, fungicides, molluscicides etc.) where you can find:
and a wide range of other information relating to pesticide use.
HSE: Pesticides Monitor Search
What are pesticides and biocides and who uses them?
Supplying pesticides and biocides
Approved pesticide and biocide products and qualifications
Controls on applying pesticides and biocides
Applying pesticides and biocides
Good practice for using pesticides and biocides
Import, supply and sale - Getting approval for pesticides and biocides
Disposing of pesticides and biocides
Dealing with pesticide and biocide spills
Groundwater in Northern Ireland, DAERA have produced a leaflet to raise awareness about this untapped resource
EU Exit, EU Exit useful information
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