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Temporary Regulatory Position Statement

Substances permitted to be discharged from finfish farm facilities - Deltamethrin

This temporary regulatory position applies to finfish farm facilities that have an authorisation to discharge residues of medicinal products containing 1% deltamethrin.

Deltamethrin is the active ingredient in some medicinal products used to treat fish. The majority of existing permits restrict operators to only use, and discharge particular named medicinal products containing 1% deltamethrin. This regulatory position allows operators to use and discharge any product that has an equivalent formulation to the named products.

Regulatory position

Any operator of a finfish farm facility that has an authorisation to discharge a specified medicinal product whose sole active ingredient is 1% deltamethrin may discharge any other medicinal product whose sole active ingredient is also 1% deltamethrin.

SEPA will not treat discharges of such other products as non-compliances when reporting on operator compliance or for enforcement provided that the operator adheres to the conditions relating to the product specified in the permit as if those conditions also applied to the other 1% deltamethrin-containing product or products discharged under this regulatory position.

About this position

This regulatory position remains subject to review by SEPA at any time. SEPA has agreed a process with operators to vary all active farms onto its latest permit template, which has conditions based on the active ingredient, as opposed to the product name. This process is expected to be complete by 30 June 2024.

The regulatory position will apply in the interim to allow permit holders to discharge alternative deltamethrin products in advance of permits being varied on to the new template. It will remain in place until 30 June 2024.