The Registration Committee of CIB&RC, comprises of Chairman and 3 members, has given its verdict in favour of UPL Ltd on registration of herbicide ‘Pyroxasulfone’. The revision petition was filed by PI Industries Ltd. (PIIL) challenging grant of registration indigenous manufacturer of Pyroxasulfone technical 98.3% w/w (Pyroxasulfone technical) and pyroxasulfone 85% formulation (Pyroxasulfoneformulation).

“…all objections of PIIL are hereby rejected and the registration granted to UPL qua Pyroxasulfone Technical as well as its Formulation granted in its  443^rd RC meeting is upheld,” the Order reads.

Pyroxasulfone is an important molecule world over and several corporates are in race to register this Pre emergence herbicide that inhibits weed growth by disrupting the synthesis of very long chain fatty acids VLCFAs. 

UPL had submitted a detailed presentation regarding the safety and efficacy of Pyroxasulfone Technical and Formulation and justified the grant of relaxation in Bio-efficacy data as per the decision taken by the RC in its 427^th meeting.

The registration was granted to UPL by the Registration Committee (RC) only after they were convinced by UPL’s arguments. The argument put up by UPL stated that TIM Vs. FI-WRT Guidelines, under which Pyroxasulfone Technical has been registered by the RC in the instant case, is itself based on the concept of reliance on the data of an unregistered technical embedded in the registered formulation.

It was further submitted that the legality and validity of the TIM Vs. FI-WRT Guidelines have already been upheld by the Gujarat High Court and argument presented by PI Industries that data of an unregistered technical cannot be relied upon to establish chemical equivalence since the same would amount to treating the unregistered technical as ‘deemed registered,.