Data protection under the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR)

This page gives details of the current data protection policy regarding information submitted in support of product approvals under COPR and the active substances for which data protection applies.

Data protection policy

The data protection policy currently operated under COPR gives 10 years protection for both active ingredient and product related data submitted in support of applications for the first commercial approval of a product.

For substances first considered prior to the implementation of COPR, the 10 year period began on 6 October 1986 and expired on 6 October 1996. Therefore, this data can be used in support of any application, provided the specification of the active ingredient is sufficiently similar to a source previously registered with HSE and found to be acceptable.

For products containing active ingredients out of data protection, applications for approval will no longer have to be accompanied by a letter of access from the data owner. If the active ingredient is obtained from a source which we have not previously evaluated, then before it can be used in an approved product, certain physico-chemical data will have to be submitted to us. We will then need to be satisfied that the identity of the chemical from the new source is comparable to that from the original source.

Data which is no longer protected is still the property of the data owner - as a consequence, we will not give copies of such data to other applicants.

Active ingredients currently needing letters of authorisation

For products containing one or more of the following active ingredients, approvals can normally only be granted when the applicant has obtained a "letter of access" from the relevant company (or companies), giving authority for HSE to access their data in support of the applicant's new product. Therefore, when dealing with an application for a product containing one or more of these active ingredients, we cannot issue a Notice of Approval and Schedule until all relevant letters have been received.

It is your responsibility to approach the relevant company (or companies) in order to obtain any letters which are required. Such letters must refer to both your company name and your product name.

These active ingredients, together with the companies you need to obtain a letter from, are listed below (compiled August 2011).