2.10 RUP Dealer Transactions, Sales Reporting & Use Recommendations
Key Takeaways
- A restricted-use pesticide dealer must record every transaction making an RUP available to a certified applicator, capturing the buyer's certification number, issuing authority, expiration date, and categories, plus the product name, EPA registration number, quantity, and date.
- A dealership may make an RUP available to an uncertified person only if it can document that a certified applicator will use it, and those records run 36 months from the transaction.
- Anyone making pesticide use recommendations must be familiar with the safe and proper use of each product and may not recommend anything contrary to label instructions; the employer or licensee is responsible for employees' noncompliant recommendations (IAC 21—45.49).
- Commercial applicators, dealers, manufacturers, and distributors file annual pesticide sales reports with IDALS by October 1, itemizing each product with $3,000 or more in gross retail sales.
- Pesticide dealer licenses expire June 30 with a three-month grace period, and the annual fee scales from $10 to one-tenth of one percent of gross annual pesticide sales.
2.10 RUP Dealer Transactions, Sales Reporting & Use Recommendations
Quick Answer: The restricted-use system has two halves. Section 2.3 covers who may use an RUP; this section covers who may sell one and what gets written down. A dealer records the buyer's certification number, issuing state, expiration date, and categories along with the product, EPA registration number, quantity, and date. A dealer may sell to an uncertified person only with documentation that a certified applicator will use the product, and those records run 36 months. Anyone who gives a pesticide use recommendation is legally accountable for it — and so is their employer.
Why an Applicator Needs the Dealer Rules
Two reasons. First, IAC 21—45.26 opens with "Commercial applicators and retail dealers shall maintain records," so the same rule that governs your application records governs the counter you buy from. Second, many commercial applicator businesses hold a pesticide dealer license as well, which means the same firm carries both sets of duties. Exam questions frequently put a candidate on the wrong side of the counter to see whether they know both.
What the Dealer Must Record — Sales to Certified Applicators
Under IAC 21—45.26(1), each restricted-use pesticide retail dealer maintains, at each individual dealership, a record of every transaction where an RUP is made available for use to a certified applicator:
| Field | Detail required |
|---|---|
| Buyer identity | Name and address of the residence or principal place of business |
| Certification | The certification number, the state or other governmental unit that issued it, the expiration date, and the categories in which the applicator is certified |
| Product | Product name and EPA registration number, including any FIFRA Section 24(c) special local need number |
| Quantity | Amount of pesticide made available in the transaction |
| Date | Date of the transaction |
Notice what this means at the counter: a dealer cannot lawfully complete an RUP sale from a certification card alone if the card has expired, and the categories on the card must be recorded. That is why an applicator who has let a category lapse can find themselves refused at the counter before IDALS ever learns of it.
Sales Through an Uncertified Person
IAC 21—45.26(2) closes the obvious loophole. No dealership may make a restricted-use pesticide available to an uncertified person unless the dealer can document that the RUP will be used by a certified applicator and keeps the required records. That covers the common farm scenario where a hired hand or family member picks up the product.
These records are kept for 36 months after the date of the transaction and must show:
- The name and address of the uncertified person taking possession.
- The name and address of the certified applicator who will use the product.
- That certified applicator's certification number, issuing authority, expiration date, and categories.
- Product name, EPA registration number and any 24(c) number, quantity, and transaction date.
Pesticide Use Recommendations Carry Legal Weight
IAC 21—45.49 is short and consequential:
Persons making pesticide use recommendations shall be familiar with the safe and proper use of each pesticide for which recommendations are made and shall not make any recommendations that are contrary to label instructions. The employer or licensee shall be responsible for all pesticide use recommendations made by their employees that are contrary to label instructions.
Two ideas are tested here. First, a recommendation is regulated conduct, not casual advice — a salesperson, agronomist, or crew leader who tells a customer to bump the rate, add a prohibited adjuvant, or spray an unlisted site has violated the rule even if they never touch the sprayer. Second, liability runs upward: the employer or licensee is responsible for noncompliant recommendations made by employees. A business cannot insulate itself by blaming an individual agronomist.
Practically, the rule means that when a customer asks for something the label does not permit, the correct answer is to say so and offer a labeled alternative. "The customer insisted" is not a defense for either the recommender or the employer.
Annual Pesticide Sales Reporting
IAC 21—45.47 requires commercial pesticide applicators, pesticide dealers, pesticide manufacturers, and pesticide distributors to file an annual report with IDALS by October 1 each year. Manufacturers and distributors that distribute only for resale are exempt. The report includes:
- The gross dollar amount of all pesticides sold at retail for use in Iowa, and
- For each product with $3,000 or more in gross retail sales, the individual label name, EPA registration number, and gross dollar amount.
Atrazine dealers file an additional itemization — full trade name, EPA registration number, and total volume in gallons or pounds — with the same annual report (IAC 21—45.51(3)).
Pesticide Dealer Licensing
If the business sells restricted-use pesticides, it needs a dealer license under IAC 21—45.48. The fee scales with sales:
| Annual gross retail pesticide sales | License fee |
|---|---|
| Under $10,000 | $10 |
| $10,000 to under $25,000 | $25 |
| $25,000 to under $50,000 | $50 |
| $50,000 to under $75,000 | $75 |
| $75,000 to under $100,000 | $100 |
| $100,000 or more | One-tenth of one percent of gross annual pesticide sales for the previous fiscal year |
The dealer fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30, and the dealer license expires June 30 — not December 31 like the applicator license. A three-month grace period applies for renewal, with a $25 late fee for dealers under $100,000 in sales and a 5% late fee for dealers at or above $100,000. Manufacturers and distributors selling only for resale pay a flat $25 annual fee due July 1.
Keep the three expiry dates straight, because they are all different:
| Credential | Expires |
|---|---|
| Applicator certification (commercial, noncommercial, public) | December 31 of the third year of the cycle |
| Applicator license (annual) | December 31 each year |
| Pesticide dealer license | June 30 each year |
A dealer wants to sell a restricted-use herbicide to a farm employee who is not certified. Under IAC 21—45.26(2), what is required?
An agronomy salesperson recommends that a customer apply a fungicide at 1.5 times the label rate to “clean up” a heavy infection. Who is accountable under IAC 21—45.49?
Which pairing of Iowa credential and expiration date is correct?