The International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management

The International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management

World Health OrganizationFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Rome, 2014

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Foreword by the FAO Director-General vJos Graziano da Silva

Foreword by the WHO Director-General viiMargaret Chan

Article 1 Objectives of the Code 1

Article 2 Terms and definitions 3

Article 3 Pesticide management 8

Article 4 Testing of pesticides 11

Article 5 Reducing health and 13environmental risks

Article 6 Regulatory and technical 16requirements

Article 7 Availability and use 19

Article 8 Distribution and trade 20

Article 9 Information exchange 22

Article 10 Labelling, packaging, 24storage and disposal

Article 11 Advertising 26

Article 12 Monitoring and Observance 28of the Code

Annex 1 International instruments 31in the field of chemicalmanagement, environmental and health protection, sustainable development and international trade, relevant to the Code

References 33

Notes 39

iii

Contents

Foreword by the FAO Director-General Jos Graziano da Silva v

This is the fourth version of the Interna-tional Code of Conduct on Pesticide Man-agement that FAOs governing bodieshave approved since 1985. It provides aframework that guides government reg-ulators, the private sector, civil societyand other stakeholders on best practicein managing pesticides throughout theirlifecycle. Its overall structure remains un-changed and covers every aspect of pes-ticide management from production todisposal.

This version, approved by the 38th FAOConference in June 2013, incorporatespublic health pesticides and vector con-trol to broaden the scope of the Code ofConduct beyond agricultural pesticides. Itgives greater attention to health and en-vironmental aspects of pesticides, up-dates a number of definitions and termsand aligns guidance in several technicalareas with developments in internationalchemicals management.

The new Code comes at a time whengreater attention is being focused on in-creasing food production while conserv-

ing and enhancing the natural resourceson which that production depends.Healthy ecosystems produce more, pre-vent or maintain pests and diseases atacceptable levels and are more resilientto shocks. The new strategic frameworkfor FAO has been reoriented to supportsustainable agricultural production asone of its strategic objectives. This newCode is an integral component of this ob-jective. In the area of pest and diseasemanagement this means using Inte-grated Pest Management (IPM), whichhas successfully reduced pesticide useand improved yields, food quality and in-comes for millions of farmers.

Providing farmers with access to localsupplies of well adapted and good qualityseeds and planting material helps to pre-vent the spread of pests and diseases.Protecting soils and attending to nutrientand water availability to crops produceshealthier plants that are more resilient topest and disease attacks. Such holisticapproaches, as embodied in the FAOpublication Save and Grow1, help to re-duce reliance on pesticides and other ex-

Foreword by the FAO Director-General Jos Graziano da Silva

The International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Managementvi

ternal inputs with ensuing economic,health and environmental benefits forfarmers and consumers.

The International Code of Conduct onPesticide Management is a voluntaryframework that has been endorsed bythe FAO Members, and supported by keypesticide industry associations and civilsociety organizations. It complementslegally binding instruments such as theRotterdam Convention on the Prior In-formed Consent Procedure for Certain Haz-ardous Chemicals and Pesticides inInternational Trade, the Stockholm Conven-tion on Persistent Organic Pollutants andthe Basel Convention on the Control ofTransboundary Movements of HazardousWastes and their Disposal, and voluntarymechanisms such as the Strategic Ap-proach to International Chemicals Manage-ment (SAICM).

1 Save and Grow, FAO, 2011

Pesticides are an important group ofchemicals that need careful manage-ment. I encourage all those who havedealings with pest management andpesticides to use this document as aguiding reference in designing their poli-cies, legislative texts and technical ap-proaches. Our partnership with WHO andUNEP and our close collaboration withthe private sector and civil society furtherstrengthen the relevance and broad en-dorsement of work in this area.

I hope that through effective implemen-tation of this new International Code ofConduct on Pesticide Management we canachieve significant reduction of risks tohealth and the environment from pesti-cides, while improving the productivity,sustainability and livelihoods of farmerseverywhere.

Jos Graziano da SilvaDirector-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Foreword by the WHO Director-General Margaret Chan vii

The 134th WHO Executive Board hastaken note of the International Code ofConduct on Pesticide Management. TheCode of Conduct provides voluntary stan-dards of conduct for all entities engagedin or associated with the management ofpesticides throughout their life-cycle,from production to disposal. The main objective of the Code of Con-duct is to maximize the benefits of pes-ticides to effectively control pests inpublic health and agriculture, while pro-tecting human and animal health and theenvironment from their harmful effects.

The Code of Conduct is designed for usewithin national legislation. It describesthe shared responsibility of many sec-tors; addresses the need for a coopera-tive effort; recognizes the need forcapacity-strengthening for its implemen-tation; and describes the standards ofconduct for pesticide management, com-plementing the legally binding instru-ments on chemicals management.

Originally developed by FAO in 1985, thecurrent version of the Code of Conduct,

approved by the 38th FAO Conference inJune 2013, was developed through theFAO/WHO joint collaboration on pesti-cide management, and incorporates pub-lic health pesticides and vector control tobroaden its scope beyond agriculturalpesticides. Of relevance to public health,the Code now focuses on risk reductionby calling on countries to identify and, ifnecessary, remove from use, highly haz-ardous pesticides; gives attention to vul-nerable groups such as children, womenand people affected by HIV/AIDS, em-phasizes minimizing the use of pesti-cides, and strongly recommends the useof integrated vector management forcontrol of vector-borne diseases.

The Code of Conduct will serve as a guid-ing framework to strengthen the capacityof developing Member States to regulate,evaluate and enforce effective controlover pesticides, including those used inpublic health, that are traded and used intheir territories.

WHO urges countries and other stake-holders to collaborate and exchange in-

Foreword by the WHO Director-General Margaret Chan

formation and experiences to overcomeresource constraints and to buildneeded capacity. FAO and WHO, as thetwo partner organizations, will furtherstrengthen efforts to work closely with

other United Nations partners, the pri-vate sector and civil society to raiseawareness and build capacity for effec-tive implementation of the Code of Con-duct in developing countries.

Margaret ChanDirector-General of the World Health Organization

The International Code of Conduct on Pesticide