Pesticides Act 2002 (Act No. 7 of 2002).

Section 3 contains a detailed definition of pesticide. The Director of Agriculture and Forestry shall act as Registrar of Pesticides (sect. 4). Powers of Registrar are set out in section 6. The Registrar shall issue pesticide licences under this Act for the manufacture, import, distribution or sale of any pesticide and issue permits under this Act for buying, obtaining or using any pesticide. A Pesticides Registration Committee is constituted under section 7. The Committee shall have advisory functions, shall assess and evaluate every application for registration of a pesticide, determine the conditions of use of any pesticide and recommend such conditions to the Registrar, issue guidelines for the storage, distribution, use and disposal of pesticides and promote the efficient, safe use, storage and disposal of pesticides (sect. 8). Sections 9 to 11 concern registration of pesticides. The Registrar may ban pesticides from being imported, sold distributed, used or possessed in Tonga. Manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of a pesticide requires a pesticide licence to be obtained from the Registrar. The Registrar may, with the advice of the Committee, issue a restricted use permit for a fixed period and subject to specified conditions (sect. 15) and may issue and experimental use permit under section 16. Section 17 concerns marking of pesticides containers. No person shall harvest any plant, or crop, or slaughter any animal that has more than the prescribed maximum residue limit (sect. 18). Remaining sections of the Act provide, among other things, for disposal or destruction of pesticides (sect. 19), pesticide inspectors (sects. 20 and 21), duties of employers (sect. 22). Offences and penalties (sect. 24), and regulation making powers of the Minister (sect. 26).