“To speed up the application of biotechnologies to climate and sustainability, the European Commission will study ways of speeding up the granting of marketing authorisations for sustainable, low-risk biopesticides”, said Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides on Thursday 4 April in response to a written question on biological crop protection from a number of MEPs, including Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, French) and Norbert Lins (EPP, German).
Since the European Parliament rejected the draft regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides, drafting a definition of biological crop protection has come to a standstill. MEPs are concerned that this is slowing down attempts to harmonise European legislation in this area (see EUROPE 13348/12). They consider it “essential” to speed up authorisation procedures for new products, particularly in the field of biological crop protection, so that farmers have “alternative solutions and can make a success of their ecological transition”. Currently, this type of procedure takes around ten years in the EU, whereas it only takes two or three years in other countries.
The Commission has been asked to introduce accelerated procedures for these biological crop protection products. However, the Commission points out that Regulation 1107/2009 already provides incentives for low-risk active substances and plant protection products containing them. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)