COPR: Label guidance

Action for approval holders

If you are the approval holder of a biocidal product under the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR), you are responsible for ensuring it is packaged and labelled in accordance with the Schedule which forms part of the COPR Certificate of Approval and:

Your label must not describe the biocidal product in any way which is misleading in relation to:

Phrases that are considered to be misleading and must not be used include:

Label elements

Labels must be in English and the text should be shown clearly and indelibly.

Products approved under COPR must contain certain information within a single lined box, known as the statutory box, on the label.

Products approved under COPR for use by more than one user group eg for amateurs and professionals, must have separate labels for each user group.

Label elements inside the statutory box

The following elements of the Schedule must appear on the labels for your COPR product inside the statutory box:

Label elements outside the statutory box

The following elements of the Schedule must appear on the labels for your COPR product outside the statutory box:

In some cases, it may be physically impossible to put all of this information on the label (this might be due to the size or the function of the biocidal product). The label elements listed below must always appear on the label:

Other label elements may instead appear on an accompanying leaflet that is integral to the packaging.

Packaging

Products may only be supplied to end users in:

Advice on packaging and labelling

When you apply for product approval under COPR, you will be required to submit details of the packaging and the draft label which will be considered as part of the assessment process.

Packaging will only be considered in terms of whether the size and type is within precedent for the product type.

Labels will only be considered in terms of whether they correctly and appropriately describe the product eg:

Labels will not be considered in terms of other aspects of the label, such as marketing or graphics, unless it impacts on the key information.

HSE does not approve, authorise or endorse labels under COPR – the responsibility for the content and accuracy of labels remains with the approval holder.

Advertising

COPR sets separate requirements for the advertising of biocidal products – you can find these in Regulation 6(a) (or Schedule 1) of COPR itself.

Additional advertising requirements will also apply – these are set by:

Updated 2022-07-12