Hon Jo Goodhew

Minister for Food Safety

3 November 2016

Agricultural Compounds Bill passes into law

Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew welcomes the final passage through Parliament of The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill, which will result in more innovative agricultural products being brought to the New Zealand market.

“This Bill achieves this through extending, expanding, and clarifying data protection,” says Mrs Goodhew.

“My objective is to support primary industry productivity and international competitiveness by encouraging the registration in New Zealand of new agricultural chemicals and veterinary medicines (ACVM), and new uses for existing products.

“Data protection affects how government agencies use and protect data supplied to them with applications to register agricultural compounds and veterinary medicines. Data protection prevents agencies from using data they hold to assess applications to register competing products during the protected period.

“Data packages are costly to develop, and with greater certainty about being able to recoup their costs, businesses are more likely to invest in the research and development needed to register new products or uses in New Zealand,” Mrs Goodhew says.

Today marks the end of an 18 month process since the Bill was first introduced into the House. There were extensive improvements made to the Bill following submissions to the Primary Production select committee.

“Data protection for innovative products, including new uses, has been extended to 10 years, and the Bill now simplifies how data protection applies.

“For non-innovative products including reformulations and new uses, the Bill introduces data protection of five years.

“For data supplied as part of reassessments, the Bill introduces five years’ data protection,” says Mrs Goodhew.

The Bill also clarifies and expands what qualifies as a “new use”. Under the Bill, new use applications would qualify for data protection if they: result in a product being used on an additional species of plant or animal or a new pest or disease; or allow different application rates, methods or withholding periods.

“These are all very important benefits for our primary industries and I look forward to New Zealand realising the benefits of this legislation,” says Mrs Goodhew.

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