The federal pesticides and veterinary chemicals regulator has admitted to breaching finance laws by failing to collect levies payable on some products.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, which has long been accused of being too close to industry, has revealed a "significant non-compliance" by not collecting the funds.

"It has not been the practice of the APVMA to collect levies for leviable disposals (including sales) of chemical products authorised under permits," the agency's 2024-25 annual report said.

This was despite the APVMA - which issues permits to allow unregistered chemicals to be legally sold in some circumstances - being required to collect these levies under the relevant legislation.

"The APVMA has put in place a process to collect these levies

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