CropLife International to work on the prevalence of illicit products in burgeoning e-commerce markets
CropLife International joined calls for greater control measures and enforcement regarding the online sale of illicit pesticides, following the publication of a report by the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade1 (TRACIT) regarding counterfeit and illicit crop protection products on e-commerce platforms.
TRACIT’s report Tackling the Sale of Illicit Pesticides on E-Commerce Platforms will today be presented
to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party on Countering
Illicit Trade, taking place in Paris. In it, researchers highlight the presence of counterfeit and illicit crop
protection products across all major e-commerce platforms, and point to the large gap between the
platforms’ stated policies, their enforcement, and how law makers are regulating online sales.
As the global association for the plant-science industry, CropLife International worked with TRACIT in
the development of this report, and is committed to supporting their calls for implementation of the
recommendations it contains. The association has been active in the fight against counterfeit pesticides
for many years, most notably as an active partner in Operation Silver Axe2 , EUROPOL’s annual operation
targeting counterfeit and illegal pesticides.
The pesticide industry is a highly regulated one, with pesticides counting amongst the most regulated
products in the world. Counterfeit and illegal pesticides threaten human health, the environment and,
potentially, farmer livelihoods. Like TRACIT, CropLife International is highly concerned by the
prevalence of illicit products in burgeoning e-commerce markets. Chief amongst TRACIT’s
recommendations to the e-commerce platforms are:
- Ensure sellers have a licence for sale of the pesticide
- Store such a licence for verification by regulators
- Ensure the pesticide for sale is registered in the country of intended use.
