ABSTRACT
The objectives of this Code are to set forth responsibilities and establish voluntary standards of conduct for all public and private entities engaged in or affecting the distribution and use of pesticides, particularly where there is no national law or only an inadequate law to regulate pesticides. Specifically, the Code seeks:
to promote practices which ensure efficient and safe use of pesticides while minimizing health and environmental concern;
to establish responsible and generally accepted trade practices;
to assist countries which have not established controls designed to regulate the quality and suitability of pesticide products needed in that country;
to ensure that pesticides are used effectively for the improvement of agricultural production and of human, animal, and plant health;
to implement, internationally, an ‘information exchange and Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure’ requiring that no international shipment of a pesticide which has been banned or severely restricted by a country in order to protect human health or the environment should proceed without the agreement of the importing country.
