Commercial pesticide applicators are:
- For-hire: applicators who are owners or employees who apply pesticides for pesticide application businesses.
- For-hire applicators need three things before making a commercial application:
- Certification in a specific category (this gets renewed every five years).
- Individual Commercial Applicators License (ICAL) (this gets renewed annually, January 1-December 31).
- Work for or obtain a Pesticide Business License (PBL) (this gets renewed annually, January 1-December 31).
YOU CANNOT MAKE ANY APPLICATIONS UNTIL YOU HAVE ALL THREE OF THESE REQUIREMENTS.
Not-for-hire: applicators who apply Restricted Use pesticides only on property they or
their employer owns or controls. More examples of Not-for-hire applicators include
but are not limited to:
Government: applicators who apply Restricted
Use pesticides to property owned/controlled at a federal, state, county, or
local level. (e.g., city/county
workers, DNR employees, park rangers, etc.)
Education: applicators who apply
pesticides in schools (e.g.,
school maintenance workers or grounds keeper). For more information on applying pesticides in
schools check out our School
IPM Page.
Steps to Certification and Licensing:
Certification
There are 20 categories for commercial certification. You may need more than one depending on the work you do.
You CANNOT take the exam/or attend a training without receiving your PAT
number. If you lost the
slip, or did not receive one, you will need to contact the UW PAT Program.
*This option is only available for certain times of the year.
- Any of the testing options grants you five years of certification.
ONCE
CERTIFIED, YOU WILL NEED TO GET LICENSED.
Licensing
Licenses are valid for one year from January 1 - December 31.
Apply for your Individual Commercial Applicators License (ICAL) by paper or online through MyDATCP.
Note: If you are applying online, you need to choose
the correct link for your situation - whether you are working commercially
for hire or not for hire, for a government agency, or for an educational
institution.
You will also need to apply for your Pesticide Business License if you own your own application business, please see our Pesticide Business Page for more information.
Applying pesticides in Indian country:
In addition to state certification and licensing, you need federal certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to apply restricted-use pesticides in
Indian country. After receiving certification in a Wisconsin category, you must apply to the EPA for certification, which will be based on the Wisconsin category.
EPA information and application form for Indian country certification
Have additional questions? Check out our FAQ page.
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