A business supplying horse health-care products has been fined $11,250 by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) for possession and supply of an unregistered veterinary chemical product.

APVMA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Chris Parker, said the supplier continued to put Australian consumers and horses at risk by failing to comply with a written undertaking to cease supply of the unregistered product.

The APVMA has not identified the company fined.

“It’s illegal to supply unregistered agricultural and veterinary chemicals, and for good reason, so when we find evidence of blatant non-compliance we treat this very seriously,” Dr Parker said.

“Unregistered vet products have not been through our robust scientific assessment and may not have undergone the required testing to validate their safety and effectiveness or meet industry standards for Good Manufacturing Practice.

“Not all horse products require registration, but this particular product did. It made therapeutic claims on the label and should have been registered with the APVMA.”

The APVMA began investigating the potential breach in 2016 when a monitoring warrant was executed on the business concerned.

In December 2016, the APVMA informed the business that the product required APVMA registration before it could be legally sold and that they should stop supplying the product.

A follow-up investigation found that the business was still supplying the product and the APVMA issued two infringement notices totaling $11 250 for the possession and supply of the unregistered product.

Dr Parker said that taking action against non-compliant operators was just one aspect of running a comprehensive compliance and monitoring program.

“Our approach includes a range of education tools to ensure companies are aware of their legal responsibilities and to help people comply,” Dr Parker said.

“The fines we’ve issued to this business demonstrate that the APVMA will not tolerate deliberate non-compliance that puts people, animals and the environment at risk.”

In addition to paying the infringement notices, the company is no longer supplying the product concerned.

Source: APVMA. People with information about possible non-compliance can contact the APVMA Compliance and Monitoring team on 1300 700 315 or via email to compliance@apvma.gov.au