Minor use is the use of chemical pesticides or non-chemical means of crop protection where the potential use is on a scale not sufficiently large to justify registration of that use from an applicant’s perspective alone. Typically minor uses involve crops grown on a small scale (minor crops) and often are high value specialty crops. Additionally minor uses can involve uses within major crops in terms of controlling minor pests and diseases. This results in a situation where specialty crop industries are either without or are lacking sufficient access to pesticides to adequately protect those crops.

This Guidance for Defining Minor Uses of Pesticides is provided to encourage and enhance member countries similarities in their approaches to defining minor uses, and to ensure that those needs are appropriately regulated, managed and addressed in their respective countries.