Luxemburg, 23/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - EU agriculture ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 23 June, reached political agreement by qualified majority decision on the draft regulation on the placing of plant protection products on the market. The Council will adopt its common position on the text in the autumn, so that it can be sent to the European Parliament for its second reading. Four countries - Hungary, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Romania - abstained in the vote.
The regulation seeks to completely recast current legislation to increase protection for human health and the environment, improve the functioning of the internal market, and update authorisation procedures. Its core elements include a positive list of active substances, criteria for the approval of substances and a compulsory mutual recognition scheme for authorisations, based on a division of the EU territory into three authorisation zones.
The text bans substances which are carcinogenic, toxic for reproduction or endocrine disruptors, though there are exemptions (for up to five years at most), under very strict conditions: there must be no other less harmful substitute substance against the parasite in question.
The compromise provides for the following general rule on the mutual recognition of product authorisation: pesticide authorisations granted in one member state must also be granted in the other member states which have comparable environmental and climatic conditions. The EU has been divided into three authorisation zones (North, Centre and South). Article 56 sets a 10-year period for the protection of data contained in test reports submitted to EU countries as part of the authorisation procedure. This period may be extended by two and a half years for studies carried out with a view to the renewal of authorisation. (L.C./transl.rt)