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Pesticides

Volume 454: debated on Tuesday 5 December 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) has been formally notified of cases of illegal trade in plant protection products in each of the last three years; and on how many occasions such notification led to enforcement action being taken by the PSD. (106883)

There is no formal procedure for notifying cases of “illegal” parallel imports of plant protection products. However, PSD has, since November 2003, been informed of and investigated 23 cases involving parallel imports as shown:

Number of cases

Number of cases where enforcement action taken

Notes

2003

1

1

1 November 2003 to 31 December 2003

2004

4

2

2005

12

5

2006

6

1 January 2006 to 30 November 2006

Enforcement action has or is being taken in eight cases and a further six cases are still under investigation pending possible enforcement action. Enforcement action has not been taken in nine cases because of lack of evidence of an offence basis.