Pesticides must be approved by either The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food or the Health and Safety Executive and approvals are granted to individual products and only for specified uses. The approval will include approval of the label which will give safety information, active ingredients, storage information, instructions for use, including protective clothing. Whether the product is suitable for industrial, professional or amateur use is also stated. Approved pesticides are usually marked 'This product is approved under the control of Pesticides Regulations 1986'. The MAFF or HSE approval numbers are marked.
Approvals are usually provisional and are revoked after a period of time.
An advertisement is any printed material such as a leaflet, poster, newspaper, magazine, point of sale material and any radio or TV broadcast. Advertisements must comply with any special requirement in the approval, for example any special degree of risk must be shown. Only the approved uses of a pesticide can be mentioned. No unapproved claim for safety is permitted. A statement of such active ingredient in each pesticide must be given, e.g. Smiths Slug Pellets contain Metaldehyde.