(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 section921.02of the Revised Code; the fees for registration, registration renewal, late registration renewal, and failure to register under section921.02of 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 sections921.06,921.09,921.11, and921.13of the Revised Code.
(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 section921.22of 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 section3733.41of 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 of all general use applications made by any trained serviceperson acting under the commercial applicator's direct supervision and of all restricted use pesticide applications made by each private applicator as required under section921.14of 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) of section921.01of 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.
Last updated July 22, 2025 at 1:08 PM