The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU has prepared, for the meeting of Member States’ experts scheduled for Friday 29 May, a compromise text, seen by Agence Europe, on the most complex part of the package simplifying rules on food safety, namely the arrangements for placing plant protection products on the market.
The EU Council had already adopted its position on certain elements of this simplification package (see EUROPE 13875/10).
The Cyprus Presidency is continuing work with the aim of reaching agreement swiftly on an overall EU Council mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the whole package (‘omnibus X’).
First approval. As in the European Commission proposal, the first approval is granted for a period not exceeding 15 years, “with the exception of low-risk active substances, for which the duration is unlimited”. However, the compromise text removes the exemptions provided for in the initial proposal concerning this unlimited approval period for categories of low-risk substances (candidate substances for substitution, those approved under derogations to tackle a serious danger to crops and those subject to scientific uncertainties).
The current regulation (Regulation 1107/2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market) provides that the first approval is valid for a period not exceeding 10 years.
Renewal. The Cyprus Presidency’s compromise text provides that renewal of approval is granted for a period not exceeding 20 years (compared with 15 years under the current legislation), with the exception of active substances renewed as low-risk active substances, for which the duration is unlimited.
Renewal of the approval of active substances referred to in Article 4(7) (that is, those used to control a serious phytosanitary danger that cannot be contained by other means) is, for its part, granted for a period not exceeding five years.
Seeds. The compromise text specifies that Member States “may allow seeds and or other plant reproductive material treated with plant protection products whose authorisation has been withdrawn or amended after the time of treatment to be used for sowing or planting provided that such seeds and plant reproductive material comply with the requirements of Union legislation on plant reproductive material, unless a different period for sowing or planting has been laid down in the withdrawal or amendment of the authorisation”.
By contrast, the general rule remains that the placing on the market and use of seeds and/or other plant reproductive material treated with a plant protection product that is not authorised in any Member State are prohibited.
Mutual recognition. In order to reduce the burden on applicants and on Member States and to facilitate the availability of plant protection products containing only low-risk active substances, the Union should be regarded as a single zone for applications for authorisation of such products, according to the text.
Where mutual recognition is requested for a plant protection product containing only low-risk active substances, that recognition should be deemed to have been granted by tacit agreement if no decision is adopted within the applicable deadline, “provided that tacit agreement is not contrary to the national law of the Member State concerned”, according to the compromise text. To facilitate the application of this provision, Member States should notify the Commission, within a strict deadline, whether their national law does not recognise tacit agreement, again according to the compromise text of the Cyprus Presidency.
NGOs concerned. A coalition of non-governmental public health, environmental and consumer organisations warns the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council, in an open letter (https://aeur.eu/f/m2k ), about the accelerated pace of negotiations on this package. The NGOs denounce a process they consider too fast, with too little democratic scrutiny and a lack of scientific expertise. They are particularly concerned about a proposal aimed at allowing unlimited national authorisations not only for pesticide active substances, but also for the products containing them. According to them, alternative solutions identified by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), such as strengthening administrative resources, have not been sufficiently taken into account. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)