Georgia Pesticide Licensing and Certification

About 5 of every 50 questions on a Georgia General Standards practice exam come from this topic.

Sources checked November 6, 2026

What to know

Under the Georgia Pesticide Use and Application Act, the Commissioner of Agriculture issues a pesticide contractor's license for each business location, and each location must keep at least one certified commercial applicator employed full time whenever it operates; the contractor's license expires at the end of the calendar year of issue. Certified commercial applicator licenses run five years from certification. Anyone who applies any pesticide for a pesticide contractor is a commercial applicator, even with general use products, and commercial aerial application of any pesticide needs a certified commercial applicator license. Private applicators use restricted use pesticides to produce agricultural or forestry commodities on land they or their employer own or rent, or on another's land with no pay beyond traded services between producers; uncertified farm workers apply restricted use pesticides only under a certified private applicator's direct supervision. The commercial written exam covers the general standards for all categories, including laws and regulations and the legal duty to supervise uncertified persons, plus a test for each category; 70 percent passes, an exam may be taken no more than once a month or twice in six months, and scores are destroyed if the general and at least one category exam are not both passed within a year. Categories include Industrial, Institutional, Structural and Health Related, Mosquito Control and Antifoulant Paints. Recertification is by Commissioner-approved training in each category, finished at least 90 days before expiration (10 hours for Ornamental and Turf, 6 for Right of Way), or by written exam; a license not renewed within 60 days of the new period requires another exam. Reciprocal certification is limited to the activities of the home-state certification, and requires a resident agent for legal process. Structural Pest Control Act licensees are exempt for structural work, farmers helping neighbors with general use pesticides are exempt, and the research exemption excludes restricted use pesticides. Contractors prove financial responsibility by bond, liability insurance or cash deposit, which need not cover crops or land being worked on, and the Commissioner gets ten days' notice of cancellation. The Commissioner may suspend a license for up to ten days pending inquiry, and after a hearing deny, suspend or revoke it; letting another use one's license is unlawful, public employees' limited licenses cover only agency work, and violations are misdemeanors.

Where it comes from

• O.C.G.A. §§ 2-7-92, 2-7-99
• O.C.G.A. §§ 2-7-101, 2-7-102, 2-7-103
• O.C.G.A. §§ 2-7-111, 2-7-112, 2-7-114
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 40-21-2-.01, 40-21-3-.01
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 40-21-4-.01, 40-21-7-.01

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