Tackling the sale of illicit pesticides on e-commerce platforms

The escalating global demand for food highlights the critical role of increasing agricultural productivity and securing long-term food security. Agro-chemicals, especially pesticides, are essential for modern agriculture, protecting crops from pests and diseases and supporting the growth in agricultural productivity.

However, the increase in demand for crop protection has also paved the way for criminals to exploit agricultural supply chains to introduce unauthorized pesticides. This issue is further exacerbated by online sales on e-commerce platforms, which, while offering new avenues for the sale of pesticides, have also become conduits for trading illicit pesticides.
 
TRACIT’s report, Tackling the sale of illicit pesticides on e-commerce platforms: Risks, challenges and solutions, identifies the scale of trade of illicit pesticides on e-commerce platforms and the vulnerabilities that expose platforms to illicit traders. The primary objective of the report is to examine the structural vulnerabilities in the operations of e-commerce platforms that can be exploited by criminals to sell illicit pesticides online. It goes on to present examples of listings of illicit pesticides found on major ecommerce platforms worldwide. 
 
Key findings
  • Major e-commerce platforms worldwide sell illicit pesticides, in circumvention of national regulatory controls. 
  • Ongoing trade in illicit pesticides necessitates stricter, government-mandated due diligence controls on e-commerce platforms.
  • Platforms must ensure greater compliance with existing law and improve enforcement of their own policies to prevent the sale of illicit pesticides.
In an effort to advance progress in these areas, this report delineates recommendations for intergovernmental organizations, national government and e-commerce platforms.
 
Critical recommendations
  1. Ensure that sellers have a license. National regulations should require e-commerce platforms to check pesticide sellers’ credentials and verify that pesticide sellers have a license to trade pesticides. 
  2. Store such licenses for verification by regulatory authorities.: National regulations should mandate e-commerce platforms to verify and store seller information including dealer licenses for greater transparency and for recourse in the case of illicit pesticides. 
  3. Verify that pesticides sold on platforms are registered in the country of use: National regulations should mandate e-commerce platforms to verify that sellers put up for sale only those pesticides that are registered in the country of use. In the case of cross-border transactions, regulations should require e-commerce platforms to verify registrations or authorization certificates in the country of import and the country of export ahead of permitting such transactions.
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TRACIT presents report on the online sale of illicit pesticides to the OECD 

5 April 2024, Paris -TRACIT presented its report, "Tackling the sale of illicit pesticides on e-commerce platforms," at the OECD Working Party on Countering Illicit Trade meeting. This group is dedicated to helping member governments mitigate market vulnerabilities to illicit trade. The report delves into the structural weaknesses of e-commerce operations and urges platforms to enhance their oversight, compliance, and enforcement of national regulations to prevent the sale of illegal pesticides.
 Suriya Padmanaabhan, TRACIT Director of Programs 
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Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation under US tax code 501(c)(6).
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