The final revisions to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) pesticide regulations at N.J.A.C. 7:30 for the Pesticide Control Code were adopted on April 6, 2020. Public comments received on NJDEP’s proposed revisions to the regulations were addressed and published in the final rule adoption.
The April 6, 2020 rule amendments to the Pesticide Control Code have just been posted on the NJDEP pesticide regulations webpage, highlighting changes in red. This is an unofficial copy of the rules to illustrate changes for educational purposes, and will be posted in this format for a limited time (approximately 18 months). The table of contents page also highlights sections in red to point the reader to the sections that were amended.
The rule covered four main topics:
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- Agricultural Worker Protection (Subchapter 12): to conform to the federal rules on agricultural worker protection. Prior to EPA’s revision of the WPS in 2015, New Jersey’s Agricultural Worker Protection regulations were more stringent than EPA’s 1992 Worker Protection Standard (as amended). Some of the more stringent New Jersey regulations included: worker and handler training recordkeeping; annual “refresher” training; and additional information required to be posted in the Central Posting Area.
The revisions incorporate new federal requirements not previously addressed by New Jersey regulations, and addressed conflicts between the State and federal rules. These changes are being integrated into the existing Rutgers NJAES WPS website and posted to the Plant and Pest Advisory. For specific questions about NJDEP’s implementation of the revised WPS, please contact Supervisor of the Worker Protection Unit Nancy Santiago at 609-984-6568, or contact her by email at pcp@dep.nj.gov.
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- Pesticide Grace Period (Subchapter 11) regulations establish a penalty matrix and include a process for enforcement of the rules through an administrative process and provide for criminal prosecution of violations in accordance with the Environmental Enforcement Enhancement Act, P.L. 2007, c. 246, which amended the Act.
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- Pesticide Examination and Certification (Subchapters 3, 5, 6, and 8) allow a Department-approved third-party to administer examinations, and to charge a fee for the service it provides; the amendments also authorize the Department to charge a fee for examinations.
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- Lastly, the Department amended N.J.A.C. 7:30-9.11, notice to apiarists (beekeepers), to extend the existing requirement for notice of pesticide application for beekeepers of honeybees to also include beekeepers of native bees. These amendments conform with N.J.S.A. 13:1F-4.1, which was enacted by the Legislature in 2018.
To access all Department rules, in standard format with no highlighted text, visit the Department’s Rules and Regulations web site.