Ohio Code 921.16 – Administrative rules
(A) The director of agriculture shall adopt rules the director determines necessary for the effective enforcement and administration of this chapter. The rules may relate to, but are not limited to, the time, place, manner, and methods of application, materials, and amounts and concentrations of application of pesticides, may restrict or prohibit the use of pesticides in designated areas during specified periods of time, and shall encompass all reasonable factors that the director determines necessary to minimize or prevent damage to the environment. In addition, the rules shall establish the deadlines and time periods for registration, registration renewal, late registration renewal, and failure to register under section 921.02 of the Revised Code; the fees for registration, registration renewal, late registration renewal, and failure to register under section 921.02 of the Revised Code that shall apply until the fees that are established under that section take effect on January 1, 2007; and the fees, deadlines, and time periods for licensure and license renewal under sections 921.06, 921.09, 921.11, and 921.13 of the Revised Code.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 921.16
- agriculture: includes farming; ranching; aquaculture; algaculture meaning the farming of algae; apiculture and related apicultural activities, production of honey, beeswax, honeycomb, and other related products; horticulture; viticulture, winemaking, and related activities; animal husbandry, including, but not limited to, the care and raising of livestock, equine, and fur-bearing animals; poultry husbandry and the production of poultry and poultry products; dairy production; the production of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, flowers, sod, or mushrooms; timber; pasturage; any combination of the foregoing; the processing, drying, storage, and marketing of agricultural products when those activities are conducted in conjunction with, but are secondary to, such husbandry or production; and any additions or modifications to the foregoing made by the director of agriculture by rule adopted in accordance with Chapter 119 of the Revised Code. See Ohio Code 1.61
- Animal: means all vertebrate and invertebrate species, including, but not limited to, humans and other mammals, birds, fish, and shellfish. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Commercial applicator: means an individual who is licensed under section 921. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Direct supervision: means either of the following, as applicable:
(1) Unless otherwise prescribed by its labeling, a pesticide is considered to be applied under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator, if it is applied by a trained serviceperson acting under the instructions and control of a commercial applicator. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Environment: includes water, air, land, and all plants and human beings and other animals living therein, and the interrelationships that exist among them. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Federal act: means the "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act" 61 Stat. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Immediate family: means a person's spouse residing in the person's household, brothers and sisters of the whole or of the half blood, children, including adopted children, parents, and grandparents. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Licensure: includes certification as used in the federal act. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Pest: means a harmful, destructive, or nuisance insect, fungus, rodent, nematode, bacterium, bird, snail, weed, or parasitic plant or a harmful or destructive form of plant or animal life or virus, or any plant or animal species that the director declares to be a pest, except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms on or in living animals, including human beings. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Pesticide: includes a pest monitoring system designated by rule. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Pesticide-use category: means a specialized field of pesticide application or of diagnostic inspection as defined by rule. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Private applicator: means an individual who is licensed under section 921. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Restricted use pesticide: means any pesticide or pesticide use classified by the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency for use only by a pesticide applicator or by an individual working under the direct supervision of a pesticide applicator. See Ohio Code 921.01
- Rule: means a rule adopted under section 921. See Ohio Code 921.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Trained serviceperson: means an employee of a pesticide business, other business, agency of the United States government, state agency, or political subdivision who has been trained to apply pesticides while under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator. See Ohio Code 921.01
- United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59
(B) The director shall adopt rules that establish a schedule of civil penalties for violations of this chapter, or any rule or order adopted or issued under it, provided that the civil penalty for a first violation shall not exceed five thousand dollars and the civil penalty for each subsequent violation shall not exceed ten thousand dollars. In determining the amount of a civil penalty for a violation, the director shall consider factors relevant to the severity of the violation, including past violations and the amount of actual or potential damage to the environment or to human beings. All money collected under this division shall be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created in section 921.22 of the Revised Code.
(C) The director shall adopt rules that set forth the conditions under which the director:
(1) Requires that notice or posting be given of a proposed application of a pesticide;
(2) Requires inspection, condemnation, or repair of equipment used to apply a pesticide;
(3) Will suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue any pesticide registration for a violation of this chapter;
(4) Requires safe handling, transportation, storage, display, distribution, and disposal of pesticides and their containers;
(5) Ensures the protection of the health and safety of agricultural workers storing, handling, or applying pesticides, and all residents of agricultural labor camps, as that term is defined in section 3733.41 of the Revised Code, who are living or working in the vicinity of pesticide-treated areas;
(6) Requires a record to be kept of all pesticide applications made by each commercial applicator and by any trained serviceperson acting under the commercial applicator’s direct supervision and of all restricted use pesticide applications made by each private applicator and by any immediate family member or subordinate employee of that private applicator who is acting under the private applicator’s direct supervision as required under section 921.14 of the Revised Code;
(7) Determines the pesticide-use categories of diagnostic inspections that must be conducted by a commercial applicator;
(8) Requires a record to be kept of all diagnostic inspections conducted by each commercial applicator and by any trained service person.
(D) The director shall prescribe standards for the licensure of applicators of pesticides consistent with those prescribed by the federal act and the regulations adopted under it or prescribe standards that are more restrictive than those prescribed by the federal act and the regulations adopted under it. The standards may relate to the use of a pesticide or to an individual’s pesticide-use category.
The director shall take into consideration standards of the United States environmental protection agency.
(E) The director may adopt rules setting forth the conditions under which the director will:
(1) Collect and examine samples of pesticides or devices;
(2) Specify classes of devices that shall be subject to this chapter;
(3) Prescribe other necessary registration information.
(F) The director may adopt rules that do either or both of the following:
(1) Designate, in addition to those restricted uses so classified by the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency, restricted uses of pesticides for the state or for designated areas within the state and, if the director considers it necessary, to further restrict such use;
(2) Define what constitutes “acting under the instructions and control of a commercial applicator” as used in the definition of “direct supervision” in division (Q)(1) of section 921.01 of the Revised Code. In adopting a rule under division (F)(2) of this section, the director shall consider the factors associated with the use of pesticide in the various pesticide-use categories. Based on consideration of the factors, the director may define “acting under the instructions and control of a commercial applicator” to include communications between a commercial applicator and a trained serviceperson that are conducted via landline telephone or a means of wireless communication. Any rules adopted under division (F)(2) of this section shall be drafted in consultation with representatives of the pesticide industry.
(G) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, the director shall not adopt any rule under this chapter that is inconsistent with the requirements of the federal act and regulations adopted thereunder.
(H) The director, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may declare as a pest any form of plant or animal life, other than human beings and other than bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms on or in living human beings or other living animals, that is injurious to health or the environment.
(I) The director may make reports to the United States environmental protection agency, in the form and containing the information the agency may require.
(J) The director shall adopt rules for the application, use, storage, and disposal of pesticides if, in the director’s judgment, existing programs of the United States environmental protection agency necessitate such rules or pesticide labels do not sufficiently address issues or situations identified by the department of agriculture or interested state agencies.
(K) The director shall adopt rules establishing all of the following:
(1) Standards, requirements, and procedures for the examination and re-examination of commercial applicators and private applicators;
(2) With respect to training programs that the director may require commercial applicators and private applicators to complete:
(a) Standards and requirements that a training program must satisfy in order to be offered by the director or the director’s representative or in order to be approved by the director if a third party wishes to offer it;
(b) Eligibility standards and requirements that must be satisfied by third parties who wish to provide the training programs;
(c) Procedures that third parties must follow in order to submit a proposed training program to the director for approval;
(d) Criteria that the director must consider when determining whether to authorize a commercial applicator or private applicator to participate in a training program instead of being required to pass a re-examination.
(3) Training requirements for a trained serviceperson.
(L) The director shall adopt all rules under this chapter in accordance with Chapter 119 of the Revised Code.