New EU pesticide regulation: the final steps

The pesticide proposals have gone through the EU co-decision procedure in which the European Parliament and the Council had to reach an agreement. The remaining steps in the process are mainly administrative: the package must be signed-off by the Council before being published in the Official Journal of the EU.

This publication is not the final step, as several technical implementation measures have to be agreed on before the legislation comes into force (end of 2010). The European Crop Protection Association will work with European policymakers and partners in the food chain to support a sensible implementation of the remaining provisions of concern during the transitional period.

The legislation, which sets guidelines for approving the sale of pesticides in the EU, specifies new cut-off criteria for the evaluation of substances used in the production of insecticides, herbicides or fungicides. These need to be approved at the European level before being manufactured for sale. After authorisation of the active ingredients, pesticides still need the EU’s green light for commercialisation before Member States grant their final approval.

The Parliament’s vote in January put an end to the co-decision process, but also started discussions about the resultant impact on specific active substances. Many have tried to predict which substances will be banned. But it is too early in the process to know about the impact of the new Regulation. All active substances will need to be re-evaluated against the newly approved criteria before they can be removed from the market. As the European Food Safety Authority has not begun this process, it is impossible to say how many pesticide products will be affected.

Speculation in the form of a pesticide blacklist only serves to confuse farmers unnecessarily and undermines the ongoing process. The industry will always support thorough and independent approval procedures accurately judging the safety of its products, but will not accept unscientific claims against its portfolio. If, at the end of this process, any substances are found to be unsafe we will fully support their ban.

First, however, we need to respect the ongoing evaluation process and keep in mind that, even prior to the adoption of new evaluation criteria, Europe has the very highest health and quality standards for the food on our plates.