Is it pure coincidence or not? In the midst of controversy over the European Commission's plan to authorise glyphosate in the EU again for another ten years, and on the eve of the European Parliament's hearing on the Monsanto Papers, the European Commission published its report on Tuesday 10 October about the implementation of the EU directive on the sustainable use of pesticides. The report shows that member states' implementation of this directive needs improvement.
Although this 2009 directive (2009/128/EC) aims to protect public health and the environment (see EUROPE 9817), the report shows that the directive cannot achieve its full potential because there are shortcomings in its implementation.
In particular, the Commission notes that: - integrated pest management for crops remains underused by member states, despite the fact that the number of EU-approved low risk/non-chemical pesticide substances has doubled since 2009; - compliance at individual grower level is not being systematically checked by member states; - protection of aquatic environments or specific areas such as public parks is difficult to assess given the lack of measurable targets in most national action plans to reduce risks.
Towards harmonised risk indicators. The Commission announces that, along with the member states, it will work on developing harmonised EU-level risk indicators, drawing on the experience of the EU28 in their national indicators.
The same day, the Commission launched a new website with links to member state websites on the sustainable use of pesticides, including integrated pest management for crops, in order to facilitate the exchange of information between the EU28 and provide access for farmers and the broader public to a wealth of information.
In December 2016, the EU Environment Council had highlighted delays at the Commission in its work on protecting public health and the environment through good management of chemical products (see EUROPE 11692). The Commission's new website can be found at: https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/sustainable_use_pesticides_en.
Its report can be consulted at: https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/plant/docs/pesticides_sup_report-overview_en.pdf . (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)