Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, told the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday 17 March that the current authorisation process for pesticides in Europe was excessively long.
“We need faster procedures. At present, it takes around ten years to obtain authorisation for a product. With that, I think we are unique in the world”, he declared, stressing the urgent need to reform the system.
To meet this challenge, the European Commission is proposing to simplify and rationalise procedures without touching existing assessment criteria, explained the Commissioner in response to questions from Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italian) and Gheorghe-Florin Cârciu (S&D, Romanian).
“If you look at the assessment criteria, they remain the same for pesticides. We haven’t changed them because, of course, we don’t want to reduce the level of protection for our consumers and the environment”, he added to reassure Mr Cârciu. This administrative simplification could generate savings estimated at €1 billion a year for administrations, producers and farmers.
The system is currently saturated, with around 200 authorisation requests pending. “We want to overcome this bottleneck through the simplification exercise, but also by helping the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) to focus more on its core business”, explained Olivér Várhelyi (see EUROPE 13815/24). To remedy this, the Commission plans to recruit around 100 additional staff to support EFSA and reduce the system’s clutter.
The Commission is taking a proactive approach to controls and security: “As the Commission, we want to be able to intervene at any time as soon as there is the slightest suspicion about a consignment or a pesticide, so that we can act immediately and take action”. Border inspections and visits to third countries will be stepped up, while private controls will remain complementary, serving as a source of information for the national authorities and the Commission.
On the question of unlimited authorisations for certain active substances, the Commissioner insisted on respect for the precautionary principle. “We are creating the possibility of authorising active substances in products indefinitely, but only for low-risk products, mainly biopesticides and a few chemical pesticides representing a low level of risk for the environment”. However, products containing these substances will have to be renewed every 15 years, ensuring a rolling review on their impact.
The Commission is banking on the promotion of biopesticides. “We want to push the system to promote biopesticides. Biopesticides mean less of a burden on the environment and, of course, less of a burden on human health”. At the same time, post-authorisation scientific monitoring will be maintained to ensure rapid intervention in the event of any emerging problems.
On import controls, he pointed out that: “We will be carrying out an additional audit in Brazil to check the beef sector, where we have identified irregularities. We want to check that the Brazilian authorities have remedied this”.
Mr Várhelyi said that the Commission was working on legislation to phase out cage farming, sector by sector. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)