HSE GB pesticides approval register: which search do you need?

The active-substance workbook, updated October 2026, includes substance identity, approval and expiration columns, specific provisions, notes and register-update references. Use the product search for a container’s authorisation and the workbook for the ingredient-level question.

Choose the register before typing a name

An active substance is the ingredient you may recognise from an agronomist’s discussion. A product is the named formulation on the container. Active-substance approval is separate from product authorisation. Finding an ingredient in the GB spreadsheet does not establish the authorisation of a particular bottle, crop use or application.

Use this route map when preparing the search:

The product register provides current-authorisation, changes and withdrawal routes. HSE’s active-substance page supplies the separate GB register download. Use the route matching your question rather than treating every result containing the ingredient name as interchangeable.

Prepare an identifiable search

Have the actual label or a clear photograph beside you. Copy the product name, registration number and intended crop into a temporary note. Add the territory in which the work would happen. For a contractor, use the customer’s treatment location rather than the office address when deciding which territory you are investigating.

The registration reference on a label is MAPP or MAFF followed by five digits. In the number field, enter those digits, including any leading zeroes. A missing initial zero changes the input, so compare the complete sequence before trying a broader search.

Keep a record of the search question as well as the answer. “Check product on apples in GB” is a more useful working description than “looked at HSE”. Add the label identity you used so a colleague can repeat the lookup without guessing which container was being discussed.

Search by authorisation features

Follow the register’s current-products link. Its form includes Product, MAPP No, Extent of Authorisation, Marketing Company, Authorisation Holder, Active, Crop and Field of Use/Action. Additional selectors cover professional or amateur products and other authorisation features. Enter the information you actually know, then use Get Results.

For the territory selector, the displayed choices are All GB, All NI, GB Only and NI Only. For a GB lookup, All GB is the inclusive starting choice; GB Only is narrower because it asks for the GB-only category. Preserve your chosen filter beside the result. A UK trading address does not answer the territory question for a particular product.

Avoid starting with every available filter filled in. Begin with the exact registration identity where available, inspect the response, then refine the crop or other characteristics relevant to your task. If a search returns nothing, remove uncertain descriptive inputs individually so you can identify which one affected the result.

HSE allows upper or lower case and the percent sign as a wildcard. It recommends singular crop names, such as apple rather than apples, and explains that searches use a structured crop hierarchy. Wildcards and partial names can slow a search. Use the picklists and the regulator’s crop terminology when an everyday field name does not give the expected match.

Read the product record and supporting documents

Select the product name in the results to open the full details, including links to notices. Replacement products and digitally signed authorisation notices appear at the bottom of the details page. Keep the registration reference visible while opening attachments so documents for similarly named products do not become mixed together.

The registration number identifies the product you are investigating; it is not a statement about the quantity you may put in a tank. A use on a particular crop or situation can end before the product’s overall expiry. Read the relevant use and its conditions, rather than using a headline expiry as the answer to every question.

For a farm-office check, prepare a document note with columns for product identity, notice reference, territory, crop or situation, date checked and unresolved question. Transcribe the relevant conditions accurately. Keep a link to the original notice so that a short office summary remains traceable to its basis.

Where the document contains several dates, label each one with the activity it describes. Do not collapse authorisation, sale, distribution, storage and use into a single unlabeled “expiry” column. Work through the wording of the particular notice and preserve any accompanying amendment.

Pesticide label: match the product and authorisation notice

The MAPP number identifies the product; the authorisation notice supplies its statutory conditions. A label must be consistent with those conditions, and it carries the MAPP number as the product-registration reference. A search result alone does not establish current permission, so open the notices behind it, as described above.

Understanding pesticide labels by product identity

Reading pesticide labels begins with the trade name, the MAPP number and the preparation. A herbicide label, a fungicide label and an insecticide label all need the same identity check. Bayer pesticide labels, for instance, should be retrieved for the named Bayer preparation and not copied from another product. The pesticide product label and the authorisation notice together answer the question about use on a crop.

A herbicide label example, a pesticide label example or a sample pesticide label is a reading aid, not an authorisation for another preparation. The MCPA 500 label shows why table headings matter: maximum individual dose, maximum total dose and latest timing are separate restrictions. Litres allowed in one application are not automatically the crop's seasonal allowance. Read dose and timing from these columns, not from the active-ingredient concentration.

An insecticide product label (or product label of insecticide) carries any necessary hazard symbols, precautions during use, medical advice and safe-disposal information. These parts of an insecticide warning label, a pesticides hazard label or the toxicity label of insecticides are not the whole authorisation: the statutory conditions of use sit in the notice of authorisation, so read the label together with any accompanying leaflet.

Find a herbicide, fungicide or insecticide label by product name

As above, you find a label through the product, not through the name of the active substance alone. Search the product in the register by trade name or MAPP number, open its record and compare the notices with the label on your container. A search for a safety data sheet (SDS or MSDS) starts the same way, with the exact product identity, and you request the SDS from the supplier of that product.

Herbicide label searches are typed as a trade name or active substance, for example: Affirm WDG, Ally, Axial, Basagran, Belkar, Beloukha, Bentazone, Boxer, Buccaneer, Butisan, Butisan s, Butoxone, Callisto, Camix, Carfentrazone, Chikara, Clomazone, Depitox, Devrinol, Devrinol 50 df, Dicamba, Dichlorprop, Diflufenican, Dimethenamid p, Diquat, Diuron, Duplosan, Envy, Ethofumesate, Falcon, Fenoxaprop, Flazasulfuron, Flexidor, Florasulam, Fluazifop, Flufenacet, Flumioxazin, Fluroxypyr, Frontier, Fusilade, Gallant, Gallant super, Garland, Garlon, Glufosinate, Glyfos, Goltix, Grazon, Harmony, Hexazinone, Imazapyr, Isoxaben, Katana, Kerb, Kyleo, Linuron, Lontrel, Lontrel 300, Mcpb, Mecoprop, Mesotrione, Metamitron, Metribuzin, Metsulfuron, Metsulfuron methyl, Napropamide, Nicosulfuron, Optica, Oxyfluorfen, Paradigm, Pastor, Pasture master, Pelargonic acid, Pendimethalin, Pethoxamid, Pinoxaden, Praxys, Primero, Progress, Propaquizafop, Pyraflufen ethyl, Pyridate, Quizalofop, Reglone, Rimsulfuron, Round up, Roundup biactive, S metolachlor, Sencor, Shark, Simazine, Spearhead, Spectrum, Starane, Starane 200, Starane advanced, Starane nxt, Stomp, Stomp aqua, Sulfosulfuron, Sumi max, T max, Terbuthylazine, Thifensulfuron, Thrust, Triallate, Triclopyr ester, Trifluralin, Tropotox, Vivendi, Zypar. The same applies to a plain "herbicide label" for an active substance such as glufosinate, imazapyr, hexazinone, pelargonic acid or triclopyr ester.

Fungicide label searches follow the same route, for example: Trianum P (biological), Acrobat, Boscalid, Bravo, Bravo 500, Captan, Caramba, Copper hydroxide, Custodia, Cyazofamid, Cyprodinil, Delan, Difenoconazole, Dithane, Dithianon, Dodine, Elatus, Exteris, Flint, Fluazinam, Fluopyram, Flute, Folicur, Folpet, Fontelis, Fortress, Heritage, Infinito, Instrata, Iprodione, Kumulus, Luna, Luna experience, Luna sensation, Mancozeb, Medallion, Metalaxyl, Metconazole, Mirage, Myclobutanil, Nativo, Nimrod, Opera, Orondis, Ortiva, Orvego, Penthiopyrad, Pictor, Previcur, Priaxor, Prochloraz, Proline, Propiconazole, Proplant, Propulse, Prosaro, Pyraclostrobin, Pyrimethanil, Quinoxyfen, Ranman, Ranman top, Revus, Revus top, Rovral, Scala, Score, Sercadis, Serifel, Signum, Sonata, Systhane, Taegro, Tazer, Tebuconazole, Teldor, Thiophanate methyl, Tilt, Topas, Triadimenol, Triticonazole, Vivando, Zorvec, Zoxamide.

Insecticide label searches, including miticide and acaricide products and biological insecticides, for example: Delfin WG (biological), Dipel Pro DF (biological), Dursban 480 EC, Mospilan 20 SP, Vydate, Xentari, Acetamiprid, Benevia, Biscaya, Chlorfenapyr, Chlorpyrifos, Coragen, Cyromazine, Delegate, Dimethoate, Dimilin, Dursban, Dynamec, Entrust, Exirel, Gazelle, Imidacloprid, Karate, Karis 10 cs, Lambda cyhalothrin, Malathion, Mavrik, Metaldehyde (molluscicide), Oxamyl, Pirimicarb, Spinetoram, Spinosad, Spirotetramat, Sulfoxaflor, Tau-fluvalinate, Velifer, Velum, Verimark, Vertimec; miticide and acaricide labels, for example: Bifenazate, Fenpyroximate, Floramite SC, Hexythiazox, Apollo, Envidor, Nissorun.

Seed treatment label searches for products such as Rhino, Scenic Gold, Integral Pro, Vibrance Gold start from the product name in the same way.

A name may belong to a product registered in another country, to a product sold under a different name in Great Britain, or to one that is no longer on the register. The register result decides which of these applies, and the label of the product on your container decides how it is used; do not take a dose from a list of names.

Mixing fungicide and herbicide: start from each product's identity

For mixing fungicide and herbicide products, retrieve the exact documents for each preparation, then put the compatibility question to your supplier or adviser. Give them both product identities and the intended crop, timing and method.

Check changes and withdrawals separately

Open the register’s changes search when investigating whether newer paperwork exists. The form requires a What’s New/Changed Since date and also offers notice-type and product filters. Its notice categories include authorisation, correction, withdrawal, amendment and commercial withdrawal. This search can return expired products, so a historical hit needs its document context.

Withdrawal notices set an authorisation expiry and usually allow a grace period for stocks already in the supply chain. Safety concerns can lead to immediate withdrawal. Amendment notices can alter conditions across several products while referring back to the original authorisations. There is no single use-up period to apply to every search result. New authorisations can supersede earlier ones, so examine the document sequence.

The separate withdrawal screen offers After and Between date searches and a marketing-company field. Use it to investigate upcoming or relevant withdrawal entries. Match the product registration number and follow the notice, rather than relying on a familiar trade name or assuming a suggested replacement has identical conditions.

For a withdrawal review, write down the existing document and the later notice in chronological order. Highlight which activity each date limits. If the relationship remains unclear, send HSE the product identity, notice references and precise question.

Read amendments according to their scope

A blanket amendment does not replace or revoke the previous notices, unlike a new authorisation. You may therefore need both documents to understand the conditions that apply.

Handle an empty, unexpected or incomplete result

Keep a brief search log so that an unsuccessful query is distinguishable from an affirmative authorisation result.

There is an administrative delay between an authorisation decision or change and its database appearance. For an apparent discrepancy, preserve the result and refer the specific document question to HSE through its published contact route. Include enough identity information for the regulator to locate the same item.

Do not convert “could not find it” into a new crop recommendation. Ask the person responsible for product selection to resolve the identity or conditions before adding a treatment instruction to the work order. Keep the question attached to that proposed job so the answer is available to the applicator.

Keep the evidence beside the treatment history

A useful office handover connects the product lookup with the job that prompted it. Give the checking note the same internal field or customer reference used in your application diary. Preserve the date of the lookup, the source address and the notice identity. Keep planned work separate from the later account of what was actually applied.

For example, in an invented administrative example, a vineyard manager receives a photographed container label from a contractor. The office copies its registration digits, searches the GB product record, retrieves the supporting notice and files the answer under the proposed block reference. After the job, the applicator supplies the actual application details. No product, rate, permission or treatment date is assumed in this example.

Use daily spray record keeping to organise that later entry and contract-sprayer handover when another business does the work. For an England scheme file, the SFI integrated pest management guide explains why agreement actions and treatment records need their own references.

Keep different HSE services distinguishable

The databases overview also links extensions of authorisation for minor use, adjuvants, residue limits and crop-name conversion. These are separate information routes. An ingredient search, an EAMU document and a residue-limit entry do not become the same evidence merely because the product name appears nearby. Start with the question your colleague actually needs answered.

If the question concerns an off-label extension, follow HSE’s extension route from the databases overview and retain that document with the relevant product information. If it concerns a residue limit, use the MRL route. Label the saved document by purpose so someone reviewing the folder can identify what each item establishes.

Review a completed lookup as a retrieval exercise: can a colleague identify the container, territory, relevant notice and outstanding query from your note alone? Correct vague filenames, unexplained abbreviations and missing source addresses while the evidence is still at hand. Keep the original wording intact when making a shorter work-order summary.

Refine descriptive searches without losing product identity

The product form separates Marketing Company from Authorisation Holder and Active. Choose the field matching the information you have: a company on an invoice, a holder named in a notice and an ingredient on a label are different search inputs. The Field of Use/Action selector includes categories such as fungicide, herbicide, molluscicide, plant growth regulator and biological control. Those categories organise results; they do not identify the intended crop by themselves.

For a company whose trading style has changed, HSE recommends entering the common part of its name to retrieve variations. Compare the returned registration numbers afterwards. Do not silently replace the container identity with another company’s similarly named formulation simply because the descriptive search looks familiar.

For an orchard lookup, start by identifying whether you have a product question or a crop-definition question. The structured hierarchy may group uses differently from a farm’s informal shorthand. Record the official descriptor alongside the farm’s familiar name in your checking note, keeping the two recognisable to whoever prepares the work order. HSE’s overview links the crop conversion facility and Crop Definitions List for this purpose.

Print a results list and preserve its context

The All Results Print Version link above the results table produces a printable list of the returned products; large sets may take longer to prepare. A printout of search results and an individual product notice serve different purposes, so keep both clearly named when you need both.

Add the search date, territory and selection criteria to your own archive index. Include the crop descriptor, registration digits and whether the lookup concerned current authorisations or historical changes. This accompanying note lets another administrator understand why a particular list was produced. Keep downloaded notices beside their references rather than relying on a screenshot whose address and date have been cropped away.

When discussing an apparent conflict, describe the discrepancy precisely. State which field or document says what, identify the registration number and include the later notice reference. For example, an old label and a subsequently issued notice may need to be examined together. When the discrepancy remains, send HSE a focused question instead of drawing an unsupported conclusion about the product’s status.

A printable list is also useful for dividing an office checking task. Allocate each product to a named reviewer, mark unresolved questions and collect the completed notes under the relevant customer or holding. Keep that review separate from choosing rates or tank compatibility.