News/Blog

[September 28, 2020]. Due to the continued COVID-19 public health emergency, the NJDEP has issued three new or revised alerts on pesticide certification and licensing: 1) paper license delays; 2) examination resumption ; and 3) online CEU exemptions. These alerts are excerpted in whole below, and have been posted to NJDEP Licensing and Registrations – Pesticide Links and www.pcpnj.org webpages.

**PESTICIDE PAPER LICENSE DELAYS New ALERT (issued September 28, 2020)**

Be advised that due to staff limitations related to the COVID 19 health emergency, processing and mailing of pesticide licenses may experience significant delays. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for license arrival via mail. During that time as always, you may access and print the status of your payment and license. This printed information will be honored by enforcement inspectors until such time that your actual license is received. To find your status search Commercial Applicators by NAME or LICENSE; OR search Private Applicators by NAME or LICENSE. If still needing to look up or pay an invoice, see Online Payments and Reports (scroll past alerts).

**PESTICIDE CERTIFICATION EXAMS Revised ALERT (issued September 28, 2020)**

Please be advised that in response to the ongoing COVID 19 coronavirus emergency and consistent with Federal, New Jersey State and local government direction, the Department continues to take every precaution to limit the possible spread of the virus. Based on continued governmental guidelines and restrictions, the Department will no longer be offering in-person pesticide certification exams.

In accordance with Pesticide rule amendments at N.J.A.C. 7:30 and in partnership with the Department, all pesticide certification exams will only be available online through Rutgers University’s Office of Continuing Professional Education. Exam applicants will register through an online Rutgers portal and will be assessed a nominal fee of $115 per exam. Registration services and exams will be available 24/7. Student ID verification and activity monitoring will be conducted via remote proctoring to uphold the Department’s exam standards and security. It is anticipated that the exam registration portal will be available no later than November 1, 2020. Please check this website at www.pcpnj.org for updated information including the link to the portal.

**PESTICIDE CONTINUING EDUCATION UNIT (CEU) Revised ALERT (issued September 28, 2020)**

Based on the current COVID 19 public health emergency, the Department has extended an interim policy allowing 100% online CEUs for remaining credits to accommodate for applicators whose 5-year recertification cycle ends October 31, 2020 and 2021. To verify if you are eligible, please click HERE.

Numerous online CEU courses are available and the Department continues to work directly with course providers to maintain an adequate number of online courses and CEUs while ensuring providers adhere to minimal online modality standards including student ID verification and class monitoring. For a list of available online CEU courses and providers, please click HERE.

Based on this interim policy, license recertification dates will not be extended. The Department anticipates that those licenses expiring in 2022 and beyond will be held to the standard maximum of 25% online training CEUs, however further policy adjustments will be considered based on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The alerts above replace and supercede prior NJDEP Pesticide Certification & Licensing notices due to COVID-19: