Electronic Submission Technology Recognized by Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency.

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 1999--The Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) recently announced preliminary findings of its pilot program for electronic submissions.

The PMRA initiated its pilot program last year to evaluate the impact of electronic submission technologies on the regulatory reviewer.

At an industry-sponsored conference last month in Ottawa, Canada, the PMRA announced preliminary findings demonstrating the benefits of using electronic submission software technology. According to Carmen Krogh, PMRA Project Manager, the agency's goal is to improve efficiencies and reduce the costs associated with reviewing product registrations by 40% by year 2003.

"The PMRA is committed to improving processes and reducing costs and time associated with the review of submissions," said Krogh. "The agency proposes pesticide registrants provide submission information in an electronic format, designed to support the submission's efficient electronic review."

The conference was co-hosted by the Crop Protection Institute, a professional association for agricultural chemical companies in Canada, the Chemical Specialty Manufacturer's Association of Canada and ESPS (Electronic Submissions Publishing Systems), the industry leader in regulatory compliance publishing. ESPS' premiere product, CoreDossier(R), was used by Bayer Agriculture Division to assemble and publish the electronic submission for the pilot in both web-based and Computer Aided Dossier and Data Supply (CADDY) compliant formats. CoreDossier takes global regulatory submissions and large mission-critical documents to the next level of publishing while still embracing electronic and paper output.

According to Alison Lowery, Director of Global Chemical Markets for ESPS, it was the PMRA's challenge to the industry to jointly pilot electronic submission technology that prompted Bayer's interest in electronic submissions and ESPS' CoreDossier. Using CoreDossier, Bayer produced the first-ever Web-based agrochemical product submission and the first official Canadian CADDY-compliant submission, which was then submitted to the PMRA in June.

"ESPS is working very closely with industry and regulatory authorities to facilitate a rapid movement toward electronic submission," said Lowery, and added, "ESPS' goal is to monitor, react to and deliver software products that meet and exceed industry's output needs."

About ESPS

ESPS (Electronic Submission Publishing Systems Inc.) is the global leader in the development and implementation of enterprise software solutions used to manage and publish regulatory compliance and other business-critical document collections. Founded in 1994 as an Adobe Systems venture company, ESPS is providing economic buyers with clear ROI and benefit through a combination of industry expertise, great technology and a commitment to high quality implementations. ESPS world headquarters is located in suburban Philadelphia, with additional offices throughout the United States and Europe. More information can be found at www.esps.com, or by reaching the company at 800/515-ESPS in North America or [phone] in Europe.