Guides · US and EU compliance

The words that make a listing a pesticide, and which regulator owns the product

A listing becomes a pesticide listing on its claim words, not on what the product is. Which regulator owns it turns on three questions, in order: what organism the claim names, whether the product works by a substance or by a physical mechanism, and whether it is used on a person. Skipping the first sends a hand sanitiser to the EPA; skipping the second sends a bug zapper after a number that does not exist; answering the third first sends a skin-applied insect repellent to the FDA. US sections read from the eCFR on Aug 12, Aug 13, Sep 8 and Sep 9, 2026 and the 2025 annual edition on Aug 24, 2026; the EU article from EUR-Lex on Aug 14, 2026.

The claim words

Family	What it looks like in copy
Antimicrobial adjectives	`antibacterial`, `antimicrobial`, `antifungal`
The -cide nouns	pesticide, insecticide, fungicide, rodenticide, germicide, biocide, miticide and the rest
Sanitise and disinfect	`sanitizer`, `sanitizing`, `disinfectant`, `disinfects`
Kill rates and kill verbs	`kills 99.9%`, including the hedged `kills up to 99.9%`; `kills germs`, `bacteria`, `viruses`, `mold`; `eliminates`, `destroys`
Repellency of a pest	a pest noun beside a repel word: `repels mosquitoes`, `tick repellent`

Three shapes look like these and are not: pesticide-free is an organic claim; removes pesticides on a water filter is the inverse; and water-repellent names no organism.

Three regulators, one word

Product	Regulator	What it carries
Registered pesticide: surface disinfectant, textile sold to protect the user, skin mosquito repellent	EPA, registration (40 CFR 152.15)	EPA Reg. No.: company number, dash, product number; a third part on a distributor product
Device: bug zapper, ultrasonic repeller, glue or light trap	EPA, no registration	The producer’s establishment registration, its number on the label (40 CFR 167.20(c)); a reseller who does not produce the device has nothing to file. Labeling not false or misleading
On or in a person, against microorganisms: hand sanitiser, antibacterial wash, antiseptic	FDA, as an OTC drug	Drug Facts panel, monograph wording

The organism decides, not the skin. 40 CFR 152.5(b) makes any insect, other arthropod, nematode or mollusk a pest and excludes only internal parasites of living man or other living animals: a tick on skin is a pest, and a skin-applied insect repellent is a pesticide in EPA’s territory, registered unless an exemption below applies. 40 CFR 152.5(d) is the carve-out sellers misread: a pest is a microorganism “except for those on or in living man or other living animals”, so a hand sanitiser is an over-the-counter drug, not a pesticide. Two person cases are unsettled on the evidence read: a claim to kill an external parasite on a person, which Pronoia, where it reads one, points to FDA and holds for review rather than scoring; and repelling a mite that lives on a person (a Demodex eyelid wash), which Pronoia scores as EPA’s, a line drawn rather than a ruling.

A device has no number to obtain. 40 CFR 152.500(b): “A device is not required to be registered under FIFRA sec. 3”. No registration number exists for a zapper, so an instruction to get one cannot be followed. What applies is establishment registration (40 CFR 167.20(c)), and labeling that is not false or misleading under 40 CFR 156.10(a)(5), whose example is “a false or misleading statement concerning the effectiveness of the product as a pesticide”. A bait, lure or insecticide cartridge releases a substance and is not a device.

When there is no number to add

An exemption under 40 CFR 152.25 is the alternative to a registration, not an addition. Three paragraphs are where a marketplace finding usually lands; 152.25 has more.

152.25(a), treated articles. An article treated with a registered pesticide to protect the article itself; the paragraph’s own examples are paint protecting its coating and wood against infestation. A treated textile that says it protects the user is making a public-health claim and is outside this paragraph.
152.25(f), minimum-risk. Active ingredients all on the listed table (cedarwood, citronella and peppermint oils among them), each named on the label with its percentage by weight, the inerts listed, the producer’s name, street address and telephone number carried, and no claim to control microorganisms threatening human health or insects or rodents carrying a specific disease.
152.25(e), solid natural cedar articles. Not cedar oil or anything formulated from it, and not a claim to repel ticks.

If one fits, there is no number to add; if none of these three does, read the rest of 152.25 before concluding none fits.

Which role you are

40 CFR 152.15 forbids selling an unregistered pesticide product; what a reseller does depends on how it is sold.

Original unopened container, registrant’s label. Nothing to file. The number on the label is the number.
Your own brand on a registered product. Supplemental distribution under 40 CFR 152.132. Only the registrant files EPA Form 8570-5; EPA does not take it from you. The label then carries registration number, dash, your company number (EPA’s Registration Manual, chapter 9, gives 999999-88888-777777). Your distributor company number is the one thing you do get from EPA, on request (152.132(d)(3)).
Repackaging. 40 CFR 167.3 makes repackaging or relabelling “producing”, 167.20(c) requires an establishment registration number first, and 152.132(c) closes the distributor route to a repackaged product. Stop repackaging, or take it up with the registrant and EPA.

EU rows: the elements you have to keep

The EPA cannot issue a number for a row on amazon.de. Regulation (EU) 528/2012 separates two things. A biocidal product, sold for its own action, is a separate route this guide does not cover. A treated article may be sold under Art 58 only where every active substance is approved for that product-type, and Art 58(3) then requires the labelling to carry two elements: a statement that the article contains biocidal products, and the name of the active substance.

On a German listing those two elements, in German, mirror the label text Art 58(3) compels. Pronoia looks for the pair behandelte Ware and Wirkstoff: cues it credits, not wording the regulation prescribes. The label must carry the elements; a listing that hides them to clear a keyword check no longer mirrors the label, which is why Pronoia credits the words rather than flags them. Keep the listing consistent with the label; check that the active substance is approved for the product-type. A repellent lotion is a product, not a treated article, and has no Art 58(3) elements to keep.

What to check

The organism. A microorganism on a person: FDA. An insect or other animal, on skin or anywhere: EPA, the two person cases excepted.
The mechanism. A zapper has no registration number; check the producer’s establishment number on the label and that no effectiveness claim is false or misleading.
An exemption, before you look for a number: 152.25(a), (f), (e), then the rest.
Your role. Original container: the label. Own brand: the registrant files 8570-5. Repackaged: establishment registration first.
EU rows: authorisation for a biocidal product; the two Art 58(3) elements on a treated article.

Then look at the listings themselves

The regulator question is the product-level half; the listing-level half is whether each row shows what its claim needs: a registration number, the Art 58(3) elements, a declared product type. Pronoia reads those from your own listings export — drop the file on the scan page and it is scored in your browser, nothing uploaded, or email it to audit@trypronoia.com for an audit, free for our first sellers, one each.