Before biocidal products can be placed on the EU market, they must receive authorization. The regulation establishes a two-tier system: active substances must first be approved at the EU level, and then individual biocidal products containing these substances require authorization either nationally or through a Union authorization procedure.

October 17, 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China updated its "Guidelines for Fertilizer Registration in China" on its government service platform. In particular, the guidelines introduced higher and clearer requirements for fertilizer efficiency experiments, stipulating that the experiment leader must be a currently employed person with a senior professional title, and that experiment video data and records must be attached to the experiment report. This article compares this with the fertilizer registration service guidelines published in Announcement No. 222 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on October 14, 2019, for reference by industry colleagues.

The final versions of five regulations on pesticide registration have recently been released. The regulatory update has undergone a multi-year review process. Beginning in April 2022, China's Pesticide Management Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MOA) solicited feedback on these pesticide regulations for the first time. This was followed by a second draft released for comment in early 2023 and a third notification in November 2024. The process has now concluded with the official issuance of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Order No. 3 and Announcement No. 925. These five regulations will come into effect from January 1, 2026.

In EU, application of technical equivalence (TE) assessment is the easiest way to gain market access for your pesticide technical materials or active substances. If the new source (i.e., your product) has the same or less harmful effects due to its impurities compared to the reference source of an approved technical material, then the new source can be considered (eco)toxicologically equivalent to the reference source. Once the TE application is approved, you can sell your technical materials to all EU Member States.

CIRS has summarized and analyzed the situation of approved TGAIs in China up to December 24, 2024. In 2024, a total of 167 TGAIs were registered, nearly matching the cumulative number of registrations over the past five years. The chlorantraniliprole got 23 registrations. Herbicides remain the top category without question. Among new active ingredients, microbial pesticides have the highest proportion. Shandong Weifang Rainbow has obtained the largest number of registrations.

In 2024, a total of 182 export only pesticides were approved in China, including 43 technical grade active ingredients (TGAIs) and 139 formulations. The approved new export only registration active ingredient including aclonifen, quinoxyfen, flufenoximacil, flusulfinam, fluchloraminopyr, Fluindapyr, cyproflanilide, Dichlorprop-P, and fluazaindolizine. Cambodia, Australia and Brazil remain the top destination countries for export-only applications.

To further enhance the pesticide management system, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' Pesticide Management Office, in collaboration with the Institute Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, P.R. China (ICAMA), developed and released a series of policies in 2024. These policies align with pesticide development and environmental protection requirements, particularly through the implementation of five draft regulations, including the "Pesticide Registration Management Measures."

From April 2022, when the Pesticide Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs first solicited opinions and suggestions on the revision of five regulations, including the "Pesticide Registration Management Measures ", "Pesticide Production License Management Measures", "Pesticide Business License Management Measures", "Pesticide Label and Instructions Management Measures", and "Pesticide Registration and Testing Management Measures"; to the beginning of 2023, when the Pesticide Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the second letter soliciting opinions on the draft revision of five regulations including the "Pesticide Registration Management Measures"; to November 4, 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the third notice on soliciting public opinions on the "Decision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Amending Five Regulations including the "Pesticide Registration Management Measures" (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)". This article mainly introduces the main changes in the five management measures and their impacts .

Based on comprehensive statistics, a total of 1,180 microbial fertilizers were registered in China in 2023. Among these registrations, a significant majority consisted of microbial inoculants. Notably, Bacillus subtilis registered products held a prominent advantage in terms of numbers, indicating their prevalence in the registered microbial fertilizers.

On September 17, 2024, 12 new pesticide products, including Pyraquinate, were registered in China. Notably, the newly approved active ingredients were included in the public notice issued by the ICAMA the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on May 10, 2024, as part of the fifth batch of proposed pesticide registrations.