The Common Regulation to the Member States of the West African Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) on the approval of pesticides was adopted by the Ministerial committee of the Organization held on March 06, 2009 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The aim of this regulation was to harmonize the rules governing the registration of pesticides in the union. On the basis of a proposal from the Commission and following the opinions given by experts of the statutory committee, the Regulation No. 04/2009/CM/WAEMU was signed into law for the harmonization of rules on the approval, marketing and control of pesticides within WAEMU. This regulation is common to all 8 WAEMU member states including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
Pesticide Management Committee and Instruments
Pesticides are registered in WAEMU by the Regional Committee for Pesticides in the Union (CRPU). This committee is the equivalent of the Sahelian Pesticides Committee (PSC) in the CILSS area or the West African Pesticide Registration Committee (COHAP) within ECOWAS. The CRPU assists the WAEMU Commission in the implementation of this Common Regulation. It works in close collaboration with the National Pesticide Management Committees (CNGP) present in each of the member states of the union.
Pre-licensing (experimentation) and post-registration (placing on the market, use, monitoring, analysis and disposal) activities are the responsibility of individual States. The WAEMU commission, for its part, holds the registry and the authorizations for pesticides that are authorized for the protection of crops in 8 countries.
Evaluation of the implementation of Regulation No. 04/2009/CM/UEMOA
The Common Regulation on the harmonization of the rules governing the approval, marketing and control of pesticides in the WAEMU concerns only the 8 member countries of the Union. Any regulation of the Union shall first be adopted by the Ministerial committee. It shall enter into force upon signature by the President of the Council. It shall be binding in its entirety and shall be directly applicable in all Member States. Unlike Regulation C /REG.3/08/2008 on the harmonization of the rules governing the registration of pesticides in the ECOWAS area and Resolution No. 8/34/CM/99, which is the Common Regulations for Member States of the ECOWAS CILSS on the approval of pesticides, the Common Regulation in WAEMU member states faces many difficulties in its implementation. This Regulation is not yet operational and will probably not be operational for several reasons:
- It is preceded by other more elaborated legislative and institutional frameworks;
- All WAEMU countries states belong to ECOWAS and the latter has its own pesticide management regulations;
- Even if this regulation was operational it will be replaced by the ECOWAS common regulation;
- This regulation is very similar to that adopted by ECOWAS and CILSS.
Selected References
UEMOA, 2009. Règlement n°04/2009/CM/UEMOA du 6 mars 2009 relatif a l’harmonisation des règles régissant l’homologation, la commercialisation et le contrôle des pesticides au sein de l’UEMOA.
UEMOA, 2003. Traite modifié de l’Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA).
Read the French version of phytosanitary regulations in WAEMU Union