The Third Project Management Committee (PMC 3) meeting on pesticide regulatory harmonization was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 31 October to 4 November 2011. A total of 21 delegates from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam attended the meeting. Representatives from FAO as well as Crop Life Asia, the lead consultant and the consultants for bio-efficacy, bio-pesticide registration harmonization, formulation analysis, and information exchange and residue analysis also attended the meeting. the meeting was very successful, it fulfilled the objectives of the meeting, primarily the adoption of 5 guidelines for application in the Pesticide Regulatory Harmonization process, after much discussion and some arguments, but all in the spirit of collaboration and with the aim of assisting the countries in the ASEAN region in their efforts to properly manage pesticides. At the end of the discussions it was agreed that the guidelines and test protocols need to be immediately applied so as to get the full benefits, although it was also agreed that there may be a need to adjust & modify them However this is a good beginning indeed and certainly in applying these guidelines, all the regulatory authorities in the participating countries will feel more confident, knowing that they are observing internationally-accepted protocols and procedures. The rest is up to each NPC as the pesticide regulatory responsible officials in each country, there is a need to carry out self-assessment and identify the gaps within the system, with the help of these guidelines, and to take further steps to address these deficiencies.
