New York ECL Article 33 and 6 NYCRR Part 325: Certification, Registration, and Records for Pesticides Applied in a Jail

Citation

New York Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), Article 33 (Pesticides), and New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, Title 6, Part 325 (Application of Pesticides), administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation. ECL text was read on October 1, 2026 from a public mirror of the Legislature’s text and checked against nysenate.gov; Part 325 from the Legal Information Institute’s copy.

The jail standard that brings these in, 9 NYCRR 7015.2(e)(2):

“any pesticide applied in the facility shall be used consistent with the manufacturer’s recommendations and any applicable laws or regulations.”

What It Says (Verbatim)

Certification, ECL § 33-0905(1):

“Any person who engages in the commercial or private application of pesticides or the sale of restricted use pesticides shall be certified by the commissioner except as provided in subdivision two of this section.”

Definitions, ECL § 33-0101:

“11. “Commercial application” means any application of any pesticide except as defined in private or residential application of pesticides.”

“4. “Agency” means any state agency; municipal corporation; public authority; college, as that term is defined in the education law; …”

Business and agency registration, ECL § 33-0907(1) and 6 NYCRR 325.23:

“1. Any pesticide business or agency as defined in this article shall register with the commissioner.”

“(a) Each agency that applies pesticide and each business offering, advertising or providing the services of commercial application of pesticides, either entirely or as part of the business, must register annually with the department on forms supplied by the department.”

“(h) No business or agency providing the services of commercial application of pesticides shall engage in the commercial use of pesticides unless the business has at least one employee who is a certified commercial pesticide applicator or technician, certified in the proper category in which the business intends to engage at each location required to be registered. A registered business using pesticides in category 7 - industrial, institutional, or structural; category 5 - aquatics; category 1 - agriculture; or businesses applying pesticides by aircraft must employ at least one certified commercial pesticide applicator, certified in these categories.”

The structural category, 6 NYCRR 325.16(g):

“(g) Industrial, institutional and structural pest control. This category includes commercial applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides in, on or around food handling establishments, dwellings, institutions such as schools and hospitals, industrial establishments, including warehouses and grain elevators and any other structures and adjacent areas, public or private”

Label information before application, ECL § 33-0905(5)(b):

“every certified applicator shall, prior to the application of a pesticide within or on the premises of a multiple dwelling, building, or structure other than a dwelling supply the owner or his agent, with a copy of the information, including all warnings, contained on the label of the pesticide to be applied.”

Records and reporting, ECL § 33-1205(1):

“All commercial applicators shall maintain pesticide use records for each pesticide application containing the following: a. EPA registration number; b. product name; c. quantity of each pesticide used; d. date applied; e. location of application by address (including five-digit zip code). Such records shall be maintained for a period of not less than three years. All commercial applicators shall file, at least annually, a report or reports containing such information with the department in an electronic format developed or accepted by the department consistent with system file specifications or on scannable forms, if developed by the department, on or before February first for the prior calendar year. All commercial applicators shall also maintain corresponding records of the dosage rates, methods of application and target organisms for each pesticide application.”

What It Means in Plain Language

1. Every commercial application needs a certified applicator. Commercial application is everything except private (agricultural) and residential application as the law defines them, and residential application excludes food establishments and covers only the applicator’s own dwelling unit. In this reference’s reading, facility staff applying pesticides in a jail are making a commercial application.
2. A county that applies its own pesticides registers too. “Agency” includes a municipal corporation, and New York’s General Construction Law counts a county as one. A county jail that uses staff instead of a contractor registers with the Department of Environmental Conservation as an agency; agencies of that kind pay no registration fee.
3. The contractor registers and employs a certified applicator in the right category. For a jail, that is Category 7, industrial, institutional, or structural, and a business working in it must employ at least one certified commercial pesticide applicator certified in it.
4. The jail gets the label first. Before each application in the building, the applicator gives the owner or its agent the label information, including all warnings. Keep it on file; the owner makes it available to occupants on request.
5. Every application leaves a record. EPA registration number, product, quantity, date, and address, plus dosage rate, method, and target pest, kept at least three years, and reported to the Department each year.

Who It Applies To

Every commercial pesticide application in New York, whether by a contracted pest control business or by facility staff, and every pesticide business and agency, including a county, that applies pesticides. It sits beside the jail standard rather than replacing it: 7015.2(e)(2) makes compliance with it part of the jail’s own rule.

Documentation Evidence

• The contractor’s Department of Environmental Conservation business registration, or the county’s agency registration
• The certification of each person who applies pesticides at the facility, including staff, and the category held
• Label information delivered before each application, on file with the facility
• Application records with each element in ECL § 33-1205(1), kept at least three years

Confidence Notes

HIGH confidence on the quoted text. The ECL text is from a public mirror of the Legislature’s site, with key phrases and revision dates checked on nysenate.gov; Part 325 is from the Legal Information Institute’s copy, not the official edition. The statute (§ 33-0907(4)) states that a registration is valid for three years, while 6 NYCRR 325.23(d) states one year; this reference does not resolve the difference. The reading that facility staff applications are commercial applications is this reference’s; confirm with the Department of Environmental Conservation.