The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is a complicated and often misunderstood law. Its critical importance to the food and agricultural sectors of the global economy knows no bounds, however, and the business of pesticides is central to those sectors’ successes. State pesticide programs are also important, and increasingly a part of the commercial process in states beyond California and New York.

The FIFRA product approval process is protracted, and often challenging, for any given product. Further complicating matters are the ensuing — often expensive — data, recordkeeping, and advocacy requirements associated with obtaining FIFRA product approvals. The strategic planning that is critical to global product development requires a combination of skills, including legal, scientific, business, and policy experience.

What We Do

B&C professionals routinely advise clients on a full range of FIFRA issues, including registration, reregistration, compliance, and defense. Our FIFRA work includes the following:

  • Product Registration, Reregistration, and Registration Review –
    • Assist clients across registration, reregistration, and registration review issues, such as:
      • Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018 (PRIA 4) matters
      • Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) and Registration Review decision documents
      • California and other state registration requirements
  • Compliance –
    • Counsel clients on compliance matters, including those affecting marketing materials and claims, product production requirements, recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and data submission requirements
    • Train client personnel, from management to sales and marketing personnel, on FIFRA compliance
  • Marketing –
    • Counsel clients on product promotion that is EPA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliant
    • Address legal issues affecting product marketing under EPA’s treated article exemption
    • Assist clients in obtaining EPA approval of expanded claims for products
  • FIFRA Enforcement –
    • Defend products in enforcement matters involving, among other issues: labeling, export/import, and experimental use permits
    • Defend products in proceedings involving, among other issues: Notices of Intent to Suspend, cancellations, and special reviews
  • Data Compensation
  • EPA/FDA Dual Jurisdiction Issues

Our Experience

B&C professionals have substantial experience in the developing law, regulation, and policy of products implicated under FIFRA.

Representative Engagements

  • B&C is among the elite in pesticide law and policy firms representing global product manufacturers on virtually every aspect of FIFRA/FQPA law, policy, science, and regulation.
  • B&C assists both large and small product manufacturers and trade associations in tackling the daunting array of scientific, legal, and policy challenges confronting the agricultural chemical community. B&C professionals are intimately familiar with the legislative underpinnings of FIFRA and FQPA, and continue to work on legislative matters arising under FIFRA, the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA), and other laws applicable to agricultural practices.
  • B&C’s expertise extends to registration and related responsibilities as required in each state in which a pesticide product is sold or distributed. California is one example of a state imposing additional or distinct requirements for state registration (e.g., data development, label restrictions) and other state-specific requirements, including Proposition 65 and pesticide mill assessments.
  • B&C routinely assists data owners in protecting and optimizing their financial investment in FIFRA registration data relied upon by follow-on registrants and in negotiating data compensation settlements or assisting in data compensation arbitrations when settlement is not an option.
  • B&C successfully reversed an EPA decision to cancel certain tolerances applicable to an herbicide, persuading EPA that continued use of the product was essential to agriculture and had no replacement.
  • B&C professionals have procured countless successes for clients in obtaining novel registrations, continuing challenged registrations, and/or diminishing the regulatory constraints on existing registered products. For instance, B&C obtained the landmark pesticide registration revocation issued in In Re Termilind, and was successful in forcing EPA to exercise its never before used authority under FIFRA to revoke as void ab initio a registration issued fraudulently to a B&C client’s competitor.