On June 8, 2020, the Chinese Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs released the Announcement 269 to promulgate the scope, data requirements and enforcing details for the registration of pesticide under export-only purpose, a long-standing issue after China’s pesticide regulatory reform since 2017. The measure settled this time will help facilitate consolidation among Chinese agrochemical industry as SMEs would find it increasingly difficult to access such shortcut to overseas market.

On June 1, 2020, Thailand began to impose a ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos, following the Notice of the Ministry of Industry on the List of Hazardous Substances issued in mid-May. It re-categorized 5 substances as the Type 4 hazardous substances prohibited from production, import, export, use and possession, namely paraquat, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, paraquat dichloride and paraquat dichloride bis methyl sulfate. 

The number of pesticides newly registered in China has plummeted from 4326 in 2018 to 294 in 2019 and one of the main causes is the elevated data requirements newly enforced. As an essential component of a dossier, product chemistry data is usually firstly reviewed by the competent authorities. In a training course organized by the Chinese Crop Protection Industry Association in June, Ms. Nancy Shen, technical supervisor of REACH24H, concluded the similarity and differences in the data requirements and exchanged her long years of experience in registering pesticides in China, EU and the United States.

In an internal webinar organized by the Chinese National Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center (NATESC) on May 12, the agronomists from southern China have exchanged the monitoring data and analyzed the situation on rice plantation and weather condition, and concluded that the total affected area of upland rice pests and diseases will be 17 million hectares nationwide in 2020. rice planthopper, Chilo suppressalis and sheath blight would be severely compared to earlier years.

In 2019, China MoARA approved 294 registration applications, down 95.6% from previous year of 4326. The decline was mainly due to the implementation of the elevated data requirements and the huge wave of merger and acquisition activities among the industry. Notably, of the 34 new active ingredients approved, 13 of them were developed by Chinese enterprises. Fungicide was the most registered product registered category and a total of 100 fungicides, based on 14 chemical and 8 biological active ingredients. 12 chemical and 7 biological active ingredients were firstly approved, of which 4 were exempted from TC/TK registration. ICAMA Registration Number Registrant Composition& formulation type Crop Disease Rate Method PD20190257 Syngenta AG 瑞士先正达作物保护有限公司 Pydiflumetofen 98% TC         PD20190267 Pydiflumetofen 200g/L SC wheat Fusarium head blight 50-65mL/Chinese acre spray rape Sclerotinia sclerotiorum 50-65mL/Chinese acre spray PD20.190268 Difenoconazole 125g/L+Pydiflumetofen 75g/L SC cucumber powdery mildew 40-50mL/Chinese acre spray watermelon powdery mildew 40-50mL/Chinese acre spray PD20190055 Mitsui Chemicals 日本三井化学AGRO株式会社 Penthiopyrad 99% TC         PD20190054 Penthiopyrad 20% SC cucumber powdery mildew 25-33mL

On 12 May 2020, the Pakistan government notified the WTO it has finalized the impending implementation of the national standard for instant hand sanitizers and disinfectants based on alcohol ingredients.

On 14 May 2020, the Indian Ministry of Agricultural and Farmers Welfare invites a 45-day consultation on a draft injunction, banning the import, production, distribution and use of 27 agricultural pesticides including Acephate, Atrazine, Benfuracarb, Butachlor, Captan, Carbofuran, Chlorpyriphos, 2,4-D, Deltamethrin, Dicofol, Dimethoate, Dinocap, Diuron, Malathion, Mancozeb, Methomyl, Oxyfluorfen, Pendimethalin, Quinalphos and Sulfosulfuron, Carbendazim, Monocrotophos, Thiodicarb, Thiophanate-methyl, Thiram, Zineb and Ziram.

On 9 May 2020, China ICAMA solicits opinions on 7 draft guidelines for the housing care and testing of environmental organisms and environmental behavior.

On April 20, the Chinese Standardization Administration (SAC) released the full contents of 14 national standards for disinfectants, disinfecting instruments, medical electrical equipment including critical care ventilators, of which the most notable one is “GB 388750-2020 Lists of Material and Restricted Substances in Disinfectants”, a mandatory standard without prior consultation, but due to take effect starting from November 1, 2020. Mandatory National Standards Issued under the SAC Announcement 7 of 2020 No. Code and Name Replacement Effective Date 1 GB 9706.1-2020 Medical Electrical Equipment-Part 1: General Requirements for Basic Safety and Essential Performance 医用电气设备 第1部分:基本安全和基本性能的通用要求 GB 9706.1-2007, GB9706.15-2008 2023/5/1 2 GB 9706.212-2020 Medical Electrical Equipment—Part 2-12: Particular Requirements for Basic Safety and Essential Performance of Critical Care Ventilators 医用电气设备 第2-12部分:重症护理呼吸机的基本安全和基本性能专用要求 GB 9706.28-2006 2023/5/1 3 GB 9706.237-2020 Medical Electrical Equipment—Part 2-37: Particular Requirements for the Basic Safety and Essential Performance of Ultrasonic Medical Diagnostic and Monitoring Equipment 医用电气设备 第2-37部分:超声诊断和监护设备的基本安全和基本性能专用要求 GB 9706.9-2008 2023/5/1 4 GB 27948-2020 General Requirements for Air Disinfectant 空气消毒剂通用要求 GB 27948-2011 2020/11/1 5 GB 27949-2020 General Requirements of Disinfectant of Medical Instruments 医疗器械消毒剂通用要求 GB/T 27949-2011 2020/11/1 6 GB 27950-2020 General Requirements for Hand Disinfectant 手消毒剂通用要求 GB 27950-201