Imagine the hassle of dealing with two government departments to get a driver’s licence, or the stress of needing building permits from two separate councils to build a house.
Fortunately most people don’t have to go through this palaver, but ticking the boxes with two regulators is a daily reality for people in the crop protection and animal health industry.
To sell products, they must seek approvals from both the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA), and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) – even though dealing with one regulator would be more efficient, cheaper and reduce compliance costs.
Agcarm and key agricultural groups have prepared a compelling case for a single regulator for veterinary medicines. This would be simple to achieve by making many veterinary medicines exempt from the ERMA regulations.
Many veterinary medicines are similar or identical to human medicines, which are already exempt from ERMA regulations because they pose negligible risk to the environment.
Read the joint paper here:-
