Plant protection products are products (chemical, microbiological) for the protection of plants and plant products against organisms harmful to plants or for the prevention of their damage, for affecting plant life processes, for preserving plant products, for destroying unwanted plants or plant parts or for preventing their growth. A specific group of plant protection products are plant protection products containing living organisms (e.g. insects, mites, nematodes) which are intended for the control of harmful insects, chiefly in covered areas.
Registration of plant protection products
According to Article 7 of Chapter III of the Plant Protection Law, the distribution or use of registered plant protection products is allowed in Latvia.
Scientific research, experiments and trials for the development of plant protection products, involving the distribution and use of plant protection products which are not on the register, may only be carried out if the State Plant Protection Service has granted permission for the research and experiments to be carried out. These plant protection products may be used only under controlled conditions, in limited quantities and on limited areas.
If the spread of a particular harmful organism poses an imminent threat to crops and it is not possible to control that harmful organism with plant protection products or other plant protection measures contained in the register, the State Plant Protection Service may, for a period of up to 120 days, issue a permit for the limited distribution and use (under controlled conditions) of plant protection products which do not comply with the conditions for registration, in accordance with the regulatory enactments on the registration of plant protection products.
The State Plant Protection Service enters a plant protection product in the Register for a period of ten years. In order to ensure the possibility of gradual evaluation of the properties of new active substances and to accelerate the availability of plant protection products containing new active substances to users, the State Plant Protection Service may include a plant protection product in the Register for a period of up to three years in accordance with the procedure laid down in the regulatory enactments on registration of plant protection products.
The inclusion of a plant protection product in the Register is attested by a plant protection product registration certificate issued by the Service. After the expiry of the validity period of the registration certificate, the plant protection product may be re-entered in the Register if the holder of the registration certificate so requests.