Belgian Regulation about the mandatory sprayer inspection

Belgium started the mandatory sprayer inspection in September 1995. In Belgium, the sprayer inspection is a federal competence and therefore it is regulated by federal rules. Each sprayer falling under these rules must be inspected every three years.. The regulation is revised every three years. Because of this, the regulation about sprayer inspection is in constant evolution since 1995.
At present, the regulation is made up of two Decrees : the Royal Decree of 10 August 2004 and the Ministerial Decree of 25 August 2004.
The regulation depends on the Ministry of Social Affairs and Public Health. The subjects treated by the two Decrees are different and are described hereafter.

1. Royal Decree of 10 August 2004

The Royal Decree aims at defining the general frame of the sprayer inspection : who is responsible, who coordinates the regulation, what is the price … This Decree is more conceptual.
See document : Royal Decree 10-08-2004.pdf

Article 1 gives some definitions : the Minister, the Agency…
Article 2 specifies that the Agency may entrust inspection bodies by means of an agreement and also defines this agreement.
Article 3 defines the fee to be paid by the owner of the sprayer : first inspection, second inspection, penalties…
Article 4 limits the power of the inspection bodies.
Article 5 describes the evaluation of the inspection bodies and the consequence in case of inadequacies or deficiencies.

2. Ministerial Decree of 25 August 2004

The Ministerial Decree aims at defining the daily management of the sprayer inspection : who does the inspection in the field, who is concerned by the inspection, at what time is the owner called, how to do the inspection… This Decree is more active.
The Ministerial Decree is divided into two parts : main part and the annex.
See document : Ministerial Decree 25-08-2004.pdf 

2.1. Main part 

Chapter I : Definitions
Article 1 defines the stakeholders (the Minister, the Agency, the inspection bodies), the cycle of inspection and the sprayer. Equipment covered by the inspection regulation are the sprayers intended to apply Plant Protection Products in a liquid form. ‘Plant Protection Product (PPP)’ is the legal wording for the agreed pesticides (Dir 91/414/CEE).

Chapter II : Mandatory inspection
Article 2 defines the scoop of the inspection. The sprayer inspection concerns all sprayers (see definition article 1) used on the Belgian territory. The § 2 of article 2 defines the equipment that are not covered by the scoop.
Article 3 concerns the inspection of the sprayers whom owner is domiciled in another Member State of the EU (this means for Belgium: The Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France), but used on Belgian territory. Belgium recognises the official inspections performed in the neighbouring countries.
Article 4 specifies that the owner shall submit every 3 years his sprayer(s) and if he’s not officially called at the right time, he shall notify the inspection body of this fact.
Article 5 defines the criteria which must be respected for admission to the inspection site. If those criteria are not met, the sprayer is considered as having not been presented to the inspection (= non-justified absence).
Article 6 concerns the procedure to be followed in case of sale or resale (2nd hand) and putting the sprayer out of use.

Chapter III : Organisation and funding of the inspection
Article 7 makes the liaison between the Royal and the Ministerial Decrees, defining :
* the two inspection bodies : ILVO for the Flemish and Brussels Capital Region and CRA-W for the Walloon Region,
* the composition of the Steering Committee.
This article defines the role of the inspection bodies :
* to inspect the sprayer following the protocol described in Annex I,
* to call the sprayer’s owner,
* the period of the calling.
Article 8 makes the liaison between the Royal and the Ministerial Decrees defining the composition of the Steering Committee. This Steering Committee gathers all the stakeholders as the representatives of the Agency, the Regional Governments, the Inspection bodies, the professional organisations (farmers and contractors Union, and the manufacturer association).
Article 9 defines that :
* sprayers that passed the inspection, can be used for the period defined on the label,
* sprayers that did not pass the inspection, must be re-inspected again within 4 month after the first inspection,
* sprayers that were not inspected cannot be used anymore.
Article 10 defines the colour of the labels for each cycle of inspection.
Article 11 defines the procedure to be followed when the label is damaged.

Chapter IV : Appeal
Article 13 and 14 defines the procedure to be followed when the owner may appeal against the decision taken during the inspection.

Chapter V : Penal Provision
Article 15 defines the penal provision in case of infringements of the provisions of the Ministerial Decree.

3. Annex of the Ministerial Decree

3.1. Annex 1 : Inspection methods for agricultural sprayers

The annex 1 is divided into two parts :
* Part one describes the method for inspecting crop sprayers and all types of other spray equipment working according the same principle.
* Part two describes the methods for inspecting orchard sprayers and all types of other spray equipment working according to the same principle.
Firstly, the different items are described and afterwards a table sums up the tolerable deviations and correct interpretation of the test results.

See document : Annex of the Ministerial Decree.pdf

3.2. Annex 2 : Stickers

The annex 2 give an example of the official sticker that is affixed on the approved sprayer.

3.3. Annex 3 : Form to be filled out when a sprayer is sold or resold

3.4. Annex 4 : Form to be filled out when a sprayer is put out of use