The following updates to WERCSmart are available as of the beginning of business June 29, 2021:


PESTICIDES


The options for pesticide types within a registration have been revised to more accurately reflect the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation describing the types of pesticides. 


Currently, the options available are as illustrated below:


The revision will have the following revised options:

1. Product is intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating pests (including insects, rodents, mold, virus, bacteria, and other micro-organisms)

2. Product is intended for use as a plant regulator (controls growth), defoliant (removes leaves), or desiccant (dehydrates plants to control growth)

3. Product is not a pesticide and does not make or imply a pesticidal claim on the labeling or in the product description (ex. kills, sterilizes, disinfects, sanitizes, antimicrobial)


Existing options 1 and 2 will become a combined option going forward. Registrations that had previously been submitted with the current 2nd option will be updated by UL to be the new 1st option, thereby minimizing the impact of Auto-Recertification on registrations.




MEIJER UPC REQUESTS


Meijer periodically utilizes UL’s Item Sync functionality to retrieve UPC assessment data for items in their locations. This minimizes the impact on the Manufacturer or Distributor of the product as there is no need to go into WERCSmart and forward a UPC / Registration to the Retailer.


Item Sync will search the UPC database for matches. If no complete matches are located, Item Sync then looks for the UPC prefix and tries to locate the owner of the UPC within the database. Should the owner be located, by searching the UPC prefix, an email will be provided to the WERCSmart Administrator advising of a UPC request from Meijer. The registrant may then go into WERCSmart and either:


A. Create a new registration for the UPC being requested and associate the registration to Meijer; or

B. Edit UPCs on an existing registration to add the requested UPC for Meijer.


BUG FIXES

Several customer-reported issues were addressed in this release.

•    Obsoleting of various product registrations from accounts.

•    Incorrect Authoring of SDS fees for ULGHS.com.

•    Email notification for Retail Completion notice provided to inactive WERCSmart user.



WHAT’S COMING IN 2021


Suspended Registration Reminders


In our hectic schedules, by early morning our “to-do” lists have gone by the wayside. Many times, the daily list will include follow-up and completion of items that may be suspended during the assessment process. Over time, we tend to forget about them as our daily priorities shift.


UL will be supplying email reminders and more filters on the Home Page My Product table to further help you in managing your workload. Reminders for outstanding suspended registrations will be provided at time of suspension, 60, 90, and 100 Days.


When a suspension reaches 120 days without any updates or resubmissions, the product registration will automatically be archived and cannot be reinstated. Within the My Products table, when a registration is suspended, there will be an option to extend the suspension time to reduce instances of automatic archiving of the registration as we all know sometimes there are internal dependencies to getting information that are outside of our control.


State Pesticide Data

State Pesticide registration data will be streamlined to improve usability of this area. The revision will include:


•  Selection of State Status

  • Registered

    • The product is registered in the specific state

    • State Expiration Date entry is required

  • Restricted / Not Registered

    • The state does not allow the sale of the product (restricted); 

    • or The product is chosen by the account not to be registered in the specific state

    • No Expiration Date entry will be needed as there is a default of not applicable


  • No State Registration Required

    • The state does not require registration of this product type per their own state regulations

    • No Expiration Date will be needed as the default will be not applicable


  •  Pending State Registration

    • The state registration has been submitted but the finalization is not yet determined by the state regulatory agency

    • No Expiration Date will be needed until such time the selection is changed to “Registered”


  • State Registration Numbers will no longer be collected for each individual state.

  • Bulk updating of state registration dates will be available when the registration is set to expire within 90 days or less, using a “revise all dates” option within the individual product registration.




WHAT’S PLANNED FOR 2022


Home Page Revisions


We will be revising the Home Page to include contact information for our agency customers, contact for General Support, as well as “at a glance” subscription statuses. Removal of the product information graphic is being removed as this was not an actionable area.

In addition, the filter specific to canceled registrations has been moved to the “More Filters” area.


Auto-Recertification Preview


WERCSmart account holders will be able to view any possible auto-recertification implications on their existing registrations before it is critical to forward the registration to a new retailer or edit the UPCs on the registration.



- The WERCSmart Team at UL