Brussels, 25/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - Spain has failed to properly transpose Council Directive 91/414/EEC on plant protection products and data protection. The European Commission therefore decided on Thursday 25 June 2009 to refer the country to the European Court of Justice.
Directive 91/414/EEC on the placing of plant protection products on the market provides that a plant protection product may only be placed on the market and used if it is authorised by the competent authorities of a member state. The authorities grant authorisations on the basis of a dossier submitted by the applicant. As the preparation of studies for such dossiers is expensive, Article 13 of the directive provides for a data protection period of 5 or 10 years. During that period, other applicants wishing to obtain authorisation have to duplicate the protected studies or to reach an agreement with the owner of the studies on their use. The Spanish legislation goes beyond the provisions of Directive 91/414/EEC by allowing national authorities to use protected studies without the agreement of the first applicant. (L.C./transl.fl)