Sustainable Use of Pesticides

Introduction

The Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides was adopted in 2006 by the European Commission, together with a proposal for a Framework Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides. It aims to fill the current legislative gap regarding the use-phase of pesticides at EU level through setting minimum rules for the use of pesticides in the Community, so as to reduce risks to human health and the environment from the use of pesticides. For the time being, Commission has proposed to restrict the scope of the Framework Directive to plant protection products. The intention is, however, to include biocides in the scope as soon as possible.

Discussions on the Framework Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides started in the European Parliament and the Council in 2006. A second-reading agreement was found in December 2008. Adoption is expected in the 2nd semester of 2009.

In addition to the Framework Directive, three other pieces of legislation contain measures deriving from the Thematic Strategy:

• A proposal for a Regulation on the placing of plant protection products on the market, revising Directive 91/414/EEC
• A proposal for a Regulation on the collection of statistics on plant protection products
• An amendment to Directive 2006/42/EC related to machinery for pesticide application.

Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides - The proposal

• Communication (COM(2006)327 final, adopted 12/07/2006)
  • Press release IP/06/981
  • Memo/06/278 - Q&As on the pesticides strategy
• Framework Directive
• Technical Annex to the Communication
• Summary of the Impact Assessment
• Impact Assessment
• Story Book (pdf ~1,5MB) (pdf ~700KB - 1MB)

Proposal for a Framework Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides - Legislative adoption procedure

• The European Commission's PreLex Website
• The Legislative Observatory of the European Parliament
• Commission's position on the EP amendments on 1st reading (pdf ~18KB)
• Commission's communication to the EP on the Council's common position (pdf ~26KB)
• Consolidated text voted by the EP on 13 January 2009 (Please note that is not the final version of the future Directive. There may still be editorial changes.)

Framework Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides - Implementation phase

• Study on IPM: Development of guidance for establishing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles (pdf ~1,15MB) - Draft guidance document for establishing IPM principles (pdf ~860KB)
• Study on biocide use: Assessment of different options to address risks from the use phase of biocides (pdf ~2,2MB) + Annex 1 (Summary descriptions of product types) (pdf ~2,6MB) + Annex 2 (Legislation in Member States) (pdf ~875KB)
• First meeting of the Expert Group on 4 June 2009
• Mandate of the Expert Group (pdf ~38KB)
• Next meeting of the Expert Group on 15 June 2010