An Emergency Authorisation (EA) was granted on 21st June 2022 to allow the use of asulam for bracken control in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, during 2022.

Subject to the conditions contained in the authorisation, the application of asulam is approved from 1st July 2022.

For placing on the market and for use, the EA period will end on 12th September.  

For storage and disposal of stocks, the EA period will end on 28th October 2022.  It will be illegal to hold stocks of Asulox after this date. Application of asulam during this period is not authorised but the holding of stocks and their transfer for disposal or to return full, unopened containers to a distributor is authorised.

The full authorisation is available to download from the Bracken Control Group’s website.  The conditions attached to the approval have been included in the revised product label for the 2022 season that will be attached to all containers.

It is essential that everyone planning to apply Asulam during 2022 is fully conversant with the conditions included in the Authorisation.  Some of the key points are summarised below.

Where there is a risk to rare or sensitive species, or where spraying is to take place near a Site of Specific Scientific Interest then advice must be sought from the appropriate conservation agency - Natural England, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

To protect birds, where at all feasible, application should be made after 1 August, or as late in July as possible

Low drift nozzles must be used and where appropriate spray must be aimed away from water.

Livestock must be removed from areas to be treated and must not be allowed to return until at least 1 month after treatment.

A maximum concentration of 1 part product to 4 parts water must not be exceeded.

An adjuvant must not be used in forestry, but in other locations an adjuvant that is included on the Chemicals Regulation Division Official List can be used; all conditions of the List Entry must be followed.

A 90m buffer zone for aerial spraying against surface water bodies must be maintained.

Ground based application is permitted only on areas with a statutory conservation designation (such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Areas of Special Scientific Interest) or Agri-Environment scheme agreement land, where specific agreement for bracken control including the use of ‘Asulox’ has been made with Natural England, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

When using horizontal boom sprayers, an untreated buffer zone of 5m is to be observed from top of the bank of any static or flowing waterbody; this can be reduced to 1m from a ditch which is dry at the time of application.

When using hand-held sprayers, spray must not be allowed to fall within 1m of the top of the bank of a static or flowing waterbody.

As part of the increased monitoring of usage of pesticides, the Bracken Control Group is required to provide the Chemicals Regulation Division of HSE with information about the usage of asulam.

This information is essential to allow the BCG to present an argument that justifies the continuing use of asulam, in the future.

For the 2022 season, distributors, contractors and end-users will be required to provide records of sales, transfers and usage.

Will be asked to account for all receipts, sales and returns of stock.

Provide records that include:
• Stock received from UPL
• Sales to purchaser, including name, address and contact details (e-mail and telephone).
• Returns received from purchasers and from distributors to UPL.

Will be asked to account for all receipts, sales, returns and usage of stock.

Obtain agreement from clients to provide records to the BCG including:  reasons for use, amount and rate of product applied, location.
• The information can be provided by the contractor / client direct using the BCG online application record form.  
• Alternatively, the contractor can provide a composite return with the records from all clients on one form / spreadsheet.

Will be required to complete application records, unless a contractor has agreed to do this on the client’s behalf.

All records should be sent to the Bracken Control Group for collation.

This online form can be used for records of individual locations where asulam has been applied.

Alternatively, a form in Word format, to allow completion on a computer, is available and a PDF version to print and complete by hand has also been prepared.  See the Asulam webpage.

Contractors / distributors should provide the requested information in a way that suits their systems, but template forms will be provided, if requested.

Where Asulam is applied to several areas and the answers to the questions are the same (e.g. about habitat, designation or funding), only one form for each user is required. If in doubt, please complete a separate form for each area.

See the Bracken Control Group’s website: www.brackencontrol.co.uk

The Asulam page provides links to the emergency authorisation documents and details of the application that was submitted by the BCG.

The Briefings page contains a range of further information.