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ARTICLE · 23 AUGUST 2017

Issues To "Bee" Determined: Federal Court Dismisses Preliminary Motions

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While the two applications seek slightly different forms of relief, together they assert that the PMRA has engaged in an unlawful course of conduct by repeatedly (and improperly) issuing section 12 notices under the Pest Control Products Act.

CanadaEnvironment
Venetia Whiting
Venetia Whiting
Julia Schatz
Julia Schatz
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Whether or not the decisions by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to successively register neonicotinoid products on a conditional basis constitute a "continuous course of conduct", and whether or not the PMRA offers adequate alternative remedies to the judicial review applications, are two debatable issues for the application judge to decide.

This was the conclusion reached on July 13 by Judge Aylen of the Federal Court in David Suzuki Foundation et al v Minister of Health et al. Judge Aylen dismissed motions brought by Bayer, Syngenta, Sumitomo and Valent (as registrants of the active ingredients clothianidin and thiamethoxam) and the Minister of Health (the "Respondents"), to dismiss two judicial review applications of the David Suzuki Foundation, Friends of the Earth Canada, Ontario Nature, and Wilderness Committee (the "Applicants").

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