Chemical Manual

In 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) agreed to develop specifications for pesticides jointly, thus providing unique, robust and universally applicable standards for pesticide quality. This joint programme is based on a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations. 

This 2025 third edition of the manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for pesticides, which is only available online, supersedes the 2022 second edition and previous manuals and guidance documents published by either FAO or WHO on this subject. This third edition does not change the established procedures nor guidance available in the previous edition, but provides clarification of the text in specific instances, mainly allowing for updated citations of internationally validated external scientific methods which are relied upon as reference methods for data generation and quality control activities.

This 2025 third edition of the manual takes into account points reported by the open and closed meetings of 2016 to 2025 and points suggested by JMPS members, CIPAC, and industry.

This manual provides the standard process, unified requirements and procedures, harmonized definitions and nomenclature, technical guidelines and standards applicable to pesticides for use in agriculture and public health. FAO and WHO specifications for pesticides based on this manual are developed through the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Specifications (JMPS) and published on the web sites of the two organizations.
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Related Documents

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for chemical pesticides (English)

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for chemical pesticides (Spanish)

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for chemical pesticides (French)

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for chemical pesticides (Chinese)

Microbial Manual

The first edition of the Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for microbial pesticides, which is available only on the internet, supersedes Section 9 "Specification guidelines for microbial pesticides" of the first edition of the Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for chemical pesticides and amendments published by FAO and WHO. The manual provides the general process, unified requirements and procedures, harmonized definitions and nomenclature, technical guidelines, and standards applicable to the development of specifications for microbial pesticides intended for use in agriculture and public health.

This first edition of the microbial pesticides manual integrates findings and reviews of JMPS members reported by the open and closed meetings of 2016 to 2023 and feedback from CIPAC and industry generated through past consultations.

Related Documents

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for microbial pesticides (English)

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for microbial pesticides (Spanish)

Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for microbial pesticides (French)

For each formulation type, templates (in editable format) have been developed to aid in the preparation of submissions to FAO/WHO for specification assessment/development by the JMPS.  The templates have been updated to reflect the most recent reference analytical methods (as per the templates' publication date).  As such, users of the Chemical and Microbial manuals are encouraged to also refer to the templates as a reference point to identify if updated analytical methods are available.

If submitting an application to establish a new specification, the most recent internationally standardized analytical methods available should be relied upon, as appropriate, for the specific technical material/formulation type.