To sell or distribute a pesticide product in Maryland, you must register it with the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) before it enters commerce, and the fee is $110 per product per year. Registration is handled by the State Chemist’s Section, every registration expires on December 31 regardless of when in the year it was approved, and the product must already carry an active EPA registration number (or qualify for a federal exemption) before Maryland will act on it.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Agriculture Code Section 5-105 – Registration of Pesticides Those are the Maryland pesticide registration requirements and fees in outline; the details below cover what to submit, how renewal works, and what happens if you skip it.
Who Has to Register
Any pesticide distributed, sold, or offered for sale in Maryland has to be registered by the person responsible for placing it in commerce. Manufacturers are the usual registrants, but distributors and other sellers are on the hook when no one upstream has covered the product.
There is one important carve-out. If you distribute a pesticide that another party has already registered in Maryland, and the label has not been altered, you do not need a separate registration for the brand or trade name you sell it under.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Agriculture Code Section 5-105 – Registration of Pesticides That prevents duplicate filings as a product moves down the chain, but the moment the label changes, the product needs its own registration.
A note on minimum-risk products. The EPA exempts certain “25(b)” pesticides from federal FIFRA registration. A federal exemption does not automatically exempt the product from Maryland’s registration requirements, so confirm the status directly with the State Chemist’s Section before you distribute a 25(b) product in the state.2Maryland Department of Agriculture. Pesticide Regulation
What to Submit
A complete Maryland pesticide registration submission has four pieces:
- A completed registration form, signed by the person responsible for the registration.
- An Excel-format product list with product names matching the labels exactly.
- A check for $110 per product, payable to the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
- Electronic (PDF) copies of every product label, with each PDF file named to match the product name on the list exactly.
The MDA will not accept handwritten forms or paper labels. If the submission does not follow these format rules, MDA will deny the registration and return the package, and the product cannot lawfully be sold in the meantime. That gap can trigger a stop-sale order against the company.3Maryland Department of Agriculture. New Pesticide Registration Instructions
The Secretary of Agriculture issues the registration once satisfied that the product, its labeling, and the supporting materials comply with Maryland’s Pesticide Registration and Labeling Law. The Secretary also has statutory authority to require additional information at any time: toxicological data, environmental or health-effects studies, or even the complete product formula, whenever it is needed to carry out the purposes of the law.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Agriculture Code Section 5-105 – Registration of Pesticides Plan for the possibility that a straightforward $110 filing turns into a data request, particularly for newer chemistries.
Annual Renewal, the December 31 Expiration, and Late Fees
Every Maryland pesticide registration expires on December 31 of the current registration year, no matter when in that year it was originally approved. A product registered in March expires the same day as one registered in November. Renewal is annual and costs the same $110 per product.
You have a grace month. If you file the renewal application after January 31, Maryland charges a late fee of 10 percent per month for each pesticide, retroactive to a January 1 filing date. The late fee is capped at twice the annual registration fee per product, so the maximum penalty on top of the $110 base is $220 per product.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Agriculture Code Section 5-105 – Registration of Pesticides Late fees do not apply to brand-new products being registered for the first time before distribution or sale.
Two practical consequences follow from the December 31 rule. First, registering a product late in the calendar year buys you only a fraction of a full registration cycle for the same $110. Second, if you carry many products, missing the January 31 window multiplies the late fee across the entire catalog, so renewal deadlines are worth tracking at the portfolio level rather than product by product.
Special Local Need Registrations
Beyond standard product registration, Maryland can register additional uses of federally registered pesticides to address pest problems specific to the state. This authority comes from Section 24(c) of FIFRA and produces what is called a Special Local Need (SLN) registration.
An SLN registration can be issued for a use that the EPA has not denied or canceled, so long as the registration is consistent with FIFRA’s purposes. Once issued, the SLN is treated as a federal registration for enforcement purposes, but it only authorizes distribution and use within Maryland. The EPA has 90 days to disapprove a state-issued SLN. And no state may issue an SLN registration for a food or feed use unless a federal tolerance or exemption for the residue is already in place.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 USC 136v – Authority of States SLN is the route to take when the pest problem exists in Maryland but the EPA-approved label does not cover it.
What Happens If You Skip Registration
Selling an unregistered pesticide in Maryland exposes you to administrative, civil, and criminal consequences, and federal penalties can run alongside state ones.
Stop-Sale Orders
The most immediate risk is administrative. When a submission is deficient or a product is being sold without a valid registration, MDA can issue a stop-sale order that halts distribution until compliance is restored.3Maryland Department of Agriculture. New Pesticide Registration Instructions Stop-sale orders create supply-chain problems well before any fine is calculated.
Civil Penalties
Under Maryland’s Pesticide Applicators Law, MDA can impose civil penalties in place of or in addition to suspending a license, permit, or certificate. A first violation carries a penalty of up to $2,500. Each subsequent violation can reach $5,000. Every day a violation continues counts as a separate offense, and total penalties arising from the same set of facts and circumstances are capped at $25,000.5Legal Information Institute. Maryland Code Regs 15.05.01.20 – Assessment of Civil Penalty
In setting a penalty, MDA weighs how willful the violation was, whether the violator knew about it and failed to correct it, and the extent to which the violator exercised reasonable care.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Agriculture Code Section 5-210.2 – Civil Penalties A documented good-faith compliance effort will not erase a penalty, but it can meaningfully reduce it.
Criminal Penalties
A violation of the Pesticide Applicators Law or its regulations is a misdemeanor. Conviction can bring a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment of up to 60 days.7Maryland Department of Agriculture. Pesticide Applicator Core Manual – Violative Acts and Penalties Criminal charges tend to follow intentional violations or conduct that creates serious health or environmental risk.
Federal Penalties Can Run in Parallel
Maryland’s enforcement does not preclude the EPA’s. As of January 2025, the maximum federal civil penalty for a FIFRA violation is $24,885 per offense for commercial applicators and registrants; the ceilings for private applicators and other categories are lower but still substantial.8eCFR. 40 CFR Part 19 – Adjustment of Civil Monetary Penalties for Inflation A single unregistered distribution can trigger both state and federal action, so the true cost of skipping registration is not measured against the $110 fee alone.
The Short Version
Confirm your EPA status. Submit the signed form, the Excel product list, the labels as properly named PDFs, and $110 per product. Mark December 31 as the expiration for every registration and January 31 as the last day to renew without a late fee. Watch for MDA requests for additional data. And treat the $110 as the price of avoiding a stop-sale order, a $2,500-and-up civil penalty, a misdemeanor, and a parallel federal case.