ENDURE NETWORK

Aerial crop spraying will in general be banned. Copyright: Alain Beguey, INRA, Tours, France.

The pesticides 'package' comprises several distinct parts. Legislation dealing with the production and licensing of pesticides will see some ‘active substances’ (the chemical ingredients of pesticides) banned. In particular, the legislation seeks to outlaw highly toxic chemicals, such as those that cause cancer.

Another part, the Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides, emphasises the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which will have to be encouraged by Member States as an alternative to the use of pesticides. In addition some practices, such as aerial spraying and the use of pesticides in public areas, will either be banned or substantially reduced.

In addition, new legislation is also being passed on the collection of statistics on pesticides and an amendment is being made to the Directive dealing with machinery for pesticide application.

UPDATE January 2010:  At the end of November 2009, the European Commission officially adopted and published the Regulation concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, the Directive establishing a framework for Community action for the sustainable use of pesticides and the Directive dealing with machinery for pesticide application. In addition, in December 2009 the Regulation concerning statistics on pesticides was adopted. You can read the complete documents below:

• Regulation_1107_2009_Parliament_Council_concerning_PPP [pdf - 1.16 MB]
• Directive_2009_128_EC_framework_sustainable_use_of_pesticides [pdf - 806.06 kB]
• Directive 2009_127_EC with regard to machinery for pesticide application [pdf - 817.60 kB]
• Regulation 1185-2009 Concerning statistics on pesticides [pdf - 1.22 MB]

You can also download these documents in six languages in ENDURE's library of European documents. If the language you require is not here, visit the website of EUR-Lex, which carries details of all European Union law in all 23 official languages.

Banning toxic chemicals

The key points of the Regulation dealing with the production and licensing of pesticides are:

• A positive list of approved ‘active substances’ (the chemical ingredients of pesticides) will be drawn up at EU level. Pesticides will then be licensed at national level on the basis of this list.
• Certain highly toxic chemicals will be banned unless exposure to them would, in practice, be negligible. These include those which are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction, those which are endocrine-disrupting, and those which are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) or very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB).
• For developmental neurotoxic (damaging to the nervous system) and immunotoxic (damaging to the immune system) substances, higher safety standards may be imposed.
• If a substance is needed to combat a serious danger to plant health, it may be approved for up to five years even if it does not meet the above safety criteria.
• Products containing certain hazardous substances are to be replaced if safer alternatives are shown to exist. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) successfully demanded a shorter deadline for their replacement, of three years rather than five.
• Substances likely to be harmful to honeybees will be outlawed.

Measures must be taken to protect the aquatic environment. Copyright: Gérard Paillard, INRA, Paris, France.

The European Parliament believes both manufacturers and pesticide users will benefit because Member States will be able to license pesticide products at national level or through mutual recognition. The EU will be divided into three zones (north, centre and south*) with compulsory mutual recognition within each zone as the basic rule. This, it says, will make it easier for manufacturers to gain approval for their products across borders within a given zone and thus make more pesticides available to users more quickly. However, following pressure from MEPs, individual States will be allowed to ban a product, for example because of specific environmental or agricultural circumstances.

The new legislation will only gradually supersede existing EU law. Pesticides which can be placed on the market under current legislation will remain available until their existing authorisation expires. Thus, says Parliament, there will be no sudden large-scale withdrawal of products from the market. (The German Federal Ministry on Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection has conducted an interesting assessment of the legislation. Click below to download or read it).

Reducing pesticide use and managing it better

The key points of the Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (to be translated into National Action Plans by Member States by December 2012) are:

• The principle of integrated pest management (IPM) is laid down, i.e. the promotion of non-chemical pest control methods such as crop rotation, to be used wherever possible as alternatives to pesticides.
• Member States must adopt National Action Plans for reducing ‘risks and impacts’ of pesticide use’ on human health and the environment, including timetables and targets for use reduction. MEPs dropped their demand for a reduction target of 50% to help secure a compromise with the Council.
• Aerial crop spraying will in general be banned, albeit with exceptions subject to approval by the authorities. No spraying will be allowed in close proximity to residential areas.
• Member States must take appropriate measures to protect the aquatic environment and drinking water supplies from the impact of pesticides. These are to include buffer zones around bodies of water and safeguard zones for any surface and groundwater used for drinking water. There must also be protected areas along roads and railways.
• The use of pesticides must be minimised or prohibited in specific areas used by the general public or by vulnerable groups, such as parks, schools, sports grounds and close to hospitals.
• New rules are being introduced on the training of pesticide users and salespeople, on handling and storage, on information and awareness-raising and on the inspection of pesticide application equipment.

* The zones are:

North:  Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.

Centre:  Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and United Kingdom.

South:  Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

ENDURE believes the strict stance taken by the EU on pesticide legislation means there must be parallel, sustained and equally determined action to promote the design and implementation of new solutions in order to develop integrated pest management schemes that contribute to sustainable development while preserving the competitiveness of European agriculture. You can read more by downloading ENDURE's position paper on European legislation:

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