Professional user card for phytosanitary products

Training levels

Basic

For the auxiliary personnel of land and aerial treatments, including non-agricultural ones, and the farmers who carry them out on the farm itself without employing auxiliary personnel and using phytosanitary products that are not or do not generate toxic, highly toxic or deadly gases.

They will also be issued to auxiliary distribution personnel who handle phytosanitary products.

Skilled

For professional users responsible for terrestrial treatments, including non-agricultural ones, and for farmers who carry out treatments using auxiliary personnel. They will also be issued to personnel directly involved in the sale of phytosanitary products for professional use, training them to provide adequate information on their use, their risks to health and the environment, and instructions to mitigate said risks. The qualified level does not provide training to carry out treatments that require the levels of fumigator or applicator pilot.

Fumigator

For applicators that carry out treatments with phytosanitary products that are gases classified as toxic, very toxic, or deadly, or that generate gases of this nature.

To obtain the fumigator card, it will be necessary to have previously acquired the training corresponding to the qualified level, as specified in the "Qualified" section.

applicator pilot

For personnel who carry out phytosanitary treatments from or through aircraft, without prejudice to compliance with the specific regulations that regulate the granting of licenses in the field of air navigation.

Obtaining the professional user card for phytosanitary products

To obtain the card corresponding to these levels, it is an essential requirement to carry out specific courses each one of them. However, who requests the card and proves to be in possession of some of the qualifying qualifications, as indicated by current regulations, is exempt from taking the course. (Royal Decree 1311/2012).

The Agriculture area is the competent body in the Community of Madrid to designate and supervise the bodies, institutions or entities in charge of imparting the necessary teachings to acquire the knowledge required for the different types of training or training of professional users.

How do I access the list of authorized training entities?

The list of training entities designated by the different Autonomous Communities is available on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture. It can be accessed at the following link:

Sustainable use of phytosanitary products > Section: "Harmonized training system": Authorized Training Entities according to art. 19 RD 1311_2012

On the other hand, the organisms, institutions or entities that impart said teachings are obliged to deliver to each student who has successfully completed the courses a certificate accrediting this circumstance.

Once the course has been completed and the certificate has been obtained, the training entity is in charge of requesting and processing the card of each of the eligible students before the competent body of the Community of Madrid and subsequently delivering them to these students.

For more information, it is recommended to contact the Agriculture Area on the telephone numbers: 91 438 28 64 / 91 438 29 43.

Official registry of producers and operators of phytosanitary means of defense (ROPO)

They must be registered in this Registry (arts. 42 to 45, Royal Decree 1311 / 2012):

1.- Companies or establishments that manufacture, store, market, distribute and sell plant protection products,

2.- Companies that provide phytosanitary application services:

Access to the procedure for sales establishments and for treatment companies

3.- Professional users:

Access to the procedure for professional users

4.- The advisers:

Access to the process for advisers

Electronic Registry of Transactions and Operations with phytosanitary products (RETO)

Producers and distributors of phytosanitary products for professional use, and entities whose activities include the provision of phytosanitary treatment services, are obliged to keep a record of all the operations they carry out with said phytosanitary products (article 25 of the Royal Decree 1311 / 2012).

Operators registered in the sectors supplier and phytosanitary treatments of the ROPO (Official Registry of Producers and Operators of Phytosanitary Defense Means), in addition to keeping an updated record of all the operations they carry out, they are obliged to send this information to the competent bodies of the autonomous communities (article 15 of the Royal Decree 285 / 2021).

These data will be included in the Electronic Registry of Transactions and Operations with phytosanitary products (RETO) managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with the aim of facilitating the control and registration of the transactions of said products, to guarantee the traceability of phytosanitary products at all times.

The information must be sent through the autonomous computer applications, or through the CHALLENGE app managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Who is obliged to register transactions with phytosanitary products in RETO?

What minimum information must be recorded on transactions with plant protection products?

The information that must be registered depends on the type of operator and will be that indicated in Annex I of Royal Decree 285/2021:

SUPPLY SECTOR

For users of the supplying sector, the following data will be recorded:

Identification of the operation: purchase in Spain, sale in Spain, parallel import, EU import, non-EU import, EU export and non-EU export.
Transaction date.
Identification of the phytosanitary product (commercial name, registration number in the Official Registry of phytosanitary products and material and reference number, where appropriate, of the manufacturing batch.
Quantity of product object of the transaction (capacity of the container and number of containers).
Identification of the supplier and the buyer (registration number in the ROPO, name and surnames or company name, address or registered office and NIF).

PHYTOSANITARY TREATMENTS SECTOR

For users of the phytosanitary treatment sector, the following information must be recorded:

Identification of the operation: acquisition or application.
In case of acquisition, identification of the supplier (registration number in the ROPO, NIF and name or company name).
In case of application, identification of the contracted party of the service (Name and surnames or company name, address or registered office and NIF).
Date of the operation.
Identification of the phytosanitary product (commercial name, registration number in the Official Register of phytosanitary products and material and number or reference, where appropriate, of the manufacturing batch).
Quantity of product object of the transaction (capacity of the container and number of containers).
In the case of applications, crop object of treatment carried out.

When is it mandatory to register transactions with phytosanitary products in RETO?

What application should be used in the Community of Madrid?

The establishments of operators of the supplier sector and phytosanitary treatments of the ROPO, located in the Community of Madrid, must update the data directly in the CHALLENGE app, through any of the means authorized by the General Directorate of Health of Agricultural Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and at least monthly.

This computer application makes it possible to record in real time all the operations for the sale of phytosanitary products and the applications carried out by companies in the phytosanitary treatment sector.

In order to use the CHALLENGE app The first step that users must perform is to proceed to SELF-REGISTRATION in the application. To do this, the operator must be previously registered in the Official Registry of Producers and Operators of Phytosanitary Products (ROPO), in the supplying sector or in the phytosanitary treatment sector. In the previous sections to this section you will find the instructions to carry out this management.

Once you have obtained the registration in ROPO, you can access the RETO application on the site:

ACCESS CHALLENGE

The General Subdirectorate of Plant and Forest Health and Hygiene of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, responsible for the CHALLENGE, has prepared a document intended to provide information for the correct recording of transactions and which can be accessed at the following link: https://servicio.mapama.gob.es/reto/Docs/Seminario.pdf

The RETO application also has a documentation module that includes:

User manual.
Compliance protocol.
record layouts files "csv" used for data upload.
WSDL documents of the services and guide for their integration.

It has a mailbox to which all questions of a technical nature can be directed to resolve incidents related to the use of this RETO application: sgmpagri@mapama.es

Procedures for collaborating entities

Organizations, institutions and collaborating training entities that wish to teach the courses to obtain the professional user card for phytosanitary products have to carry out a series of procedures:

Application for designation as a training entity

Commencement of course start