AgroPages-Australian APVMA performance continues positive trend-Agricultural news

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority’s (APVMA) performance continues to improve with 87 per cent of applications completed within timeframe during the December 2019 quarter.

Significant improvement has also been made in the on-time assessment of major product applications during the December 2019 quarter which increased to 80 per cent, up from 60 per cent in the September 2019 quarter.

APVMA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Chris Parker, said the APVMA had substantially completed its relocation to Armidale and hardworking staff were getting the job done.

“We continue to focus our attention on the timeliness of regulatory decisions for the introduction of safe and effective agricultural and veterinary chemicals to the Australian market. This includes the world-first registration of new chemistry for the control of annual ryegrass,” he said.

“We are also maintaining the safety of existing registered products, including recent review decisions in relation to methiocarb and chlorpyrifos. We will shortly announce a final regulatory decision on 2,4-D following a three-month public consultation that closed in late January 2020.”

The APVMA is focused on further improving its timeliness, with more decisions on chemicals under review to be published this financial year.

The total number of overdue major product registration applications has declined from 223 in July 2017 to near 50, and the proportion of work in progress within timeframe for all product applications has improved from 67 per cent to 92 per cent in the same period.