NAFTA Minor Use Joint Reviews

Since 1996, Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Pest Management Centre (PMC) have cooperatively conducted joint residue trials for minor use projects identified by the minor use grower communities in both countries as pest solution priorities. Conducting joint minor use residue trials using the NAFTA field residue trial map has reduced the number of trials required in both countries while at the same time satisfying the data requirements of both countries.

To maximize these gains in efficiencies, the next logical step was to ensure that the registration of these new minor uses provided minor use growers in both countries with concurrent access to the products. EPA and Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) worked together to develop a registration process that will permit a regulatory decision of pesticide uses for the minor use grower communities in both countries simultaneously. 

The first pilot candidates were successfully registered following the draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for joint reviews of minor uses. The SOP was finalized based on the experiences gained while reviewing the pilot candidates. Since the finalization of the first SOP, the SOP was revised in 2009 to include the implementation of a work-share process for those chemicals/crops that cannot be completed as joint reviews but data were developed by both PMC and IR-4.

EPA and Canadian authorities have developed a work-share process to share the reviews of the residue chemistry data when one agency has completed the work before the other to ensure both EPA and PMRA are aware of the final determination and to strive to establish tolerances/maximum residue limits (MRLs) at the same level.