Pesticides Amendment Act (No. 127 of 1994)

Pesticides Amendment Act 1994 127 Index Title 1 Short Title and commencement 2 New Part inserted 3 Regulations An Act to amend the Pesticides Act 1979 BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of New Zealand as follows: 1. Short Title and commencement---(1) This Act may be cited as the Pesticides Amendment Act 1994, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Pesticides Act 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act). (2) This Act shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council; and one or more orders may be made bringing different provisions into force on different dates. 2. New Part inserted---The principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after section 35, the following Part: ``PART IIIA ``PROTECTION OF CERTAIN CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ABOUT INNOVATIVE PESTICIDES ``35A. Interpretation---In this Part of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, `` `Applicant' means ``(a) A person who makes or has made, as the case may be, an application; and ``(b) A person on whose behalf an application is, or has been, made, as the case may be: `` `Application' means an application for registration of a pesticide under section 22 of this Act or for an experimental use permit under section 25 of this Act: `` `Commencement date' means the date on which this Part of this Act comes into force: `` `Confidential information' includes ``(a) Trade secrets; and ``(b) Information that has commercial value that would be, or would be likely to be, diminished by disclosure: `` `Confidential supporting information' means confidential information given ``(a) In, or in relation to, an innovative pesticide application; and ``(b) About the pesticide that is or was, as the case may be, the subject of that application: `` `Ingredient' includes a chemical or biological entity: `` `Innovative pesticide application' means ``(a) In relation to an application made after the commencement date, an application that refers to an active ingredient ``(i) That is an active ingredient of the pesticide to which the application relates; and ``(ii) That has not, before that application is received by the Board, been referred to in any other application (except in an application by the applicant for an experimental use permit for that pesticide) as an active ingredient of a pesticide; and ``(b) In relation to an application made before the commencement date, an application that referred to an active ingredient ``(i) That is or was, as the case may be, an active ingredient of the pesticide to which the application related; and ``(ii) That had not, before that application was received by the Board, been referred to in any other application (except in an application by the applicant for an experimental use permit for that pesticide) as an active ingredient of a pesticide: `` `Protected period' means, ``(a) In relation to confidential supporting information, relating to an innovative pesticide application, received by the Board after the commencement date, a period commencing on the date that information is received by the Board and ending, ``(i) Where h>The Board has either issued a certificate of registration under section 26 of this Act, or refused to grant such certificate of registration, in relation to the pesticide that is the subject of the innovative pesticide application; and h>The date of that issue or refusal is not more than 5 years after the Board received an application in relation to that pesticide,--- on the date 5 years after the date of that issue or refusal; or ``(ii) In any other case, on the date 5 years after the innovative pesticide application to which that information relates is or was, as the case may be, received by the Board: ``(b) In relation to confidential supporting information, relating to an innovative pesticide application, received by the Board not more than 15 years before the commencement date, a period commencing on the commencement date and ending, ``(i) Where the Board has issued or issues a certificate of registration under section 26 of this Act, or refused or refuses to grant such certificate of registration, in relation to the pesticide that was the subject of the innovative pesticide application, on the earlier of the 2 following dates: h>The date 15 years after the date of that issue or refusal: h>The date 5 years after the commencement date; or ``(ii) In any other case, on the earlier of the 2 following dates: h>The date 15 years after the innovative pesticide application to which that information related was received by the Board: h>The date 5 years after the commencement date: `` `WTO Country' means a country that is a party to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization adopted at Marrakesh on the 15th day of April 1994. ``35B. Protection of confidential supporting information about innovative pesticides---Where the Board receives, or received not more than 15 years before the commencement date, an innovative pesticide application and confidential supporting information, the Board, during the protected period in relation to that confidential supporting information, ``(a) Shall take reasonable steps to ensure that that confidential supporting information is kept confidential to the Board; and ``(b) Shall not use that confidential supporting information for the purposes of determining whether to grant any other application. ``35C. Circumstances where protection under section 35B does not apply---(1) Notwithstanding section 35B of this Act, the Board may, during the protected period in relation to confidential supporting information, ``(a) Disclose that confidential supporting information, or use that confidential supporting information for the purposes of determining whether to grant any application other than the application to which it relates or related, as the case may be, ``(i) With the consent of the applicant who made the application to which the confidential supporting information relates or related; or ``(ii) If that disclosure or use is, in the opinion of the Board, necessary to protect the health or safety of members of the public; or ``(b) Disclose that confidential supporting information to ``(i) A Government department or statutory body for the purposes of that Government department or statutory body: ``(ii) An adviser for the purposes of obtaining advice about the pesticide to which the information relates, if, in the opinion of the Board, the Government department, statutory body, or adviser, as the case may be, will take reasonable steps to ensure that information is kept confidential; or ``(c) Disclose that confidential supporting information to ``(i) The World Health Organisation: ``(ii) The Food and Agriculture Organisation: ``(iii) A regulatory agency of a WTO country: ``(iv) A person or organisation, or a person or organisation within a class or classes of persons or organisations, approved by regulations made under this Act. ``(2) The power to grant consent under subsection (1) (a) (i) of this section may be exercised by a person other than the applicant referred to in that subsection if ``(a) That applicant ``(i) Has notified the Board in writing that that other person may grant that consent; and ``(ii) Has not notified the Board in writing that that person's authority to grant that consent has been withdrawn; or ``(b) That applicant's rights in respect of the relevant confidential supporting information have been transferred to that person and the applicant or that person has notified the Board in writing of the transfer. ``35D. Protection of information about agricultural chemicals---Where the Board has information ``(a) That related to an application to register a substance as an agricultural chemical under section 14 of the Agricultural Chemicals Act 1959; and ``(b) That would have been confidential supporting information in respect of which the Board would have had obligations under section 35B of this Act had it been given in relation to an application, this Part of this Act shall apply, with such modifications as may be necessary, as if it were confidential supporting information.'' 3. Regulations---Section 76 of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after paragraph (d), the following paragraph: ``(da) Approving persons or organisations, or classes of persons or organisations, for the purposes of section 35C (1) (c) (iv) of this Act:''.