A Quarterly report from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has shown an 87 per cent completion rate for new applications in the last quarter of 2019.
Chief Executive Officer at APVMA, Chris Parker said the Authority had almost completed its relocation to Armidale and staff were “getting the job done” following the move.
“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,” Dr Parker said.
“This includes the world-first registration of new chemistry for the control of annual ryegrass.”
Dr Parker said APVMA was focussed on further improving its timeliness, with more decisions on chemicals under review to be published this financial year.
He said the total number of overdue major product registration applications had declined from 223 in July 2017 to around 50 currently, with the proportion of work in progress within timeframe for all applications up from 67 to 92 per cent in the same period.
“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,” Dr Parker said.
He also said APVMA would soon announce a final regulatory decision on the weedkiller 2,4-D following a three-month public consultation that closed in January.
