| The Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020 allow regulatory authorities to take a proactive approach to enforcing existing pesticides regulations. A policy statement that applies to Wales, England and Scotland was published by Defra on 14th July, is available here and gives further details on who will be subject to the Regulations and what they need to do. A key date to prepare for is 22 September 2021 by which time businesses concerned with placing on the market Plant Protection Products (PPPs) authorised for professional use, and/or the placing on the market of components of PPPs are required to notify competent authorities of their details and business activities. A simple form will be made available soon on GOV.UK to support this and HSE will publish further e-bulletins in due course, as well as updating its website information. In the meantime, questions can be submitted toocr-ppp@defra.gov.uk. HardSPEC is a regulatory model used by the Chemicals Regulation Division of HSE. It estimates surface water and groundwater exposure from herbicide application to hard surfaces such as roads, pavements and railway lines. An updated version of the model is available to download at ourPesticides website. A report summarising the changes made and the impact on PEC surface water exposure values as a result of the changes to the model is available. The findings of the report did not indicate increases in PEC surface water. Therefore, there will be no implementation period for introduction of the new version which can be used immediately. The updated model contains a Calibration Module to enable users to improve the prediction of wash-off from specific surfaces using experimental data. There are instructions available for using the HardSPEC Calibration Module on the HSE Pesticides website. If you have any questions relating to this eBulletin, please contact us. | 
