UPDATE: The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has released a California Notice to Stakeholders, stating the launch of the California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) system has been delayed until September 24, 2024. This delay will allow DPR time to correct functionality and security issues discovered during final testing and launch preparations.

Please see updates to the original post in red below.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has announced an August 27, 2024 (now changed to September 24, 2024), launch date of the much anticipated California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) system. DPR will release CalPEST in two stages:

DPR notes that in order to minimize data discrepancies and redundancy when CalPEST launches, they will cease data entry into the current systems on August 1, 2024. Submissions received before this date that have not yet been processed, along with submissions received between August 1st-26, 2024, will be held by DPR and directly entered into CalPEST by DPR staff beginning August 27, 2024. DPR stopped entering data into the previous system on August 1, 2024 to avoid issues with duplication and data discrepancy. Submissions received before this date that have not yet been processed, along with submissions received between August 1st and CalPEST’s launch, will be entered into CalPEST by DPR staff in the order they were received. DPR has assured us that its staff are prepared to enter mailed submissions into CalPEST so there is no need to hold submissions during this extension. If you choose to submit to DPR during this time, you will not receive a Tracking ID Number until the submission is entered into CalPEST.

What can you do now to prepare?

DPR invited SRC to participate in its CalPEST Advisory Group, so we have been kept up to date on the details of the CalPEST launch and functionality. We have also provided feedback on additional functionality we would like to see implemented in CalPEST. To facilitate a smooth transition to CalPEST, we suggest you take the following steps as soon as possible:

  • If SRC is already your agent, consider which CalPEST role you would like to assign to SRC to submit DPR applications on your behalf: “Company Administrator” or “Submitter.” Companies can assign either of these roles to multiple people, and an individual can hold either role for multiple companies.
    • “Company Administrators” have the most flexibility and will allow SRC to see all DPR submissions for your company, make modifications to any pending submissions, and assign multiple SRC staff to work on submissions as needed. This is similar to SRC’s current role if we do all of your DPR submissions.
    • “Submitters” can submit DPR applications for your company but can only see and modify the submissions they, as an individual SRC staff member, have submitted for you. If the original submitter is out of the office and DPR requires urgent modifications to a pending submission (e.g. add additional data studies, provide a revised label) only the “Company Administrator” can make these modifications or transfer the pending submission to another user. This role would be appropriate if you would like SRC to work on only certain DPR submissions and would like to be more involved with the DPR submission process.
  • Contact SRC to let us know which of the above CalPEST roles you would like to assign to us. If you would like to assign us the “Company Administrator” role, provide us with a new Agent Authorization Letter as soon as possible that includes specific language stating that you authorize certain or all SRC staff members to act as Company Administrators on your behalf. If you would like to assign us the “Submitter” role, nothing else is needed at this time if we are your current agent on record with DPR. The current Agent Authorization Letter on file with DPR will default SRC staff members to the “Submitter” role.

Please reach out to your SRC Registration Specialist with your questions. We will keep you updated as we learn more details about the anticipated launch of CalPEST!

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Christina Wilkinson  

Consulting Associate

Posted on: 07/21/24

Updated on: 08/20/24