The European Commission has launched an on-line consultation on the revision of the 1991 Directive on Plant Protection Products.
The Directive 91/414/EEC establishes a positive list of active substances for the use in plant protection products, which have been evaluated to be safe for humans and which do not present an unacceptable risk to the environment. Only products on this list can be authorised in Member States except where transitional arrangements apply.
In 2001, the Commission published a report on the functioning of the Directive and the European Council and Parliament have now called for the law to be revised.
This consultation is not designed to look at health and environment issues but will focus on the following issues outlined by the Commission :
Mutual recognition does not function well and national authorisations of products leads to duplication of work in the Member States and to differences in the availability of plant protection products across the European Union.
Sharing of data, developed by the companies to support the safety evaluation of pesticides needs to be further clarified ;
Consumer, operator and environmental protection are key elements in the Directive. Criteria for acceptance of pesticides and the principle of comparative assessment will be considered ;
More than half of all existing active substances were withdrawn from the market in 2003. There is a strong possibility that, in addition, niche substances will also disappear in the years to come, unless special provisions are made to keep this market attractive to industry.
The consultation will take place through an on-line questionnaire.
The deadline for submitting comments is 5 May 2005.
