On Monday 28 January, the NGO PAN Europe, which promotes the sustainable use of pesticides, commended the green light that was given on 25 January by experts from EU Member States to adopt harmonised pesticide risk indicators as a welcome first step.
The establishment of a set of harmonised indicators is required by the European Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (Directive 2009/128/EC) in order to monitor the impact of this legislation on pesticide use in the EU.
The 28 Member States’ experts, meeting within the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee), approved the following two indicators by a qualified majority: - an indicator measuring sales data (quantities of active substances placed on the market in kg or tonnes accumulated as one weighted average); - an indicator measuring the number of essential use derogations given for restricted or banned active substances in the same period.
In a statement, PAN Europe pointed out that the adoption of these two risk indicators are a “a first step in delivering transparency and better reporting of pesticide use without imposing an unwarranted burden in terms of costs or time for farmers and other users”. The NGO therefore encourages the Council and Parliament to back the indicators being adopted. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)