Short report of the meeting held on 2 March 2001 in Brussels (Legislation)

President : G. Del Bino
Italy was not present at the meeting and was represented by the Spanish delegation. All other Member States were present.

1. Draft Commission Decision recognising the completeness of the dossier submitted for detailed examination with a view to the possible inclusion of methoxyfenozide in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC (Sanco/3758/2000 rev 2).

Vote : favourable opinion by unanimity.

2. Draft Commission Decision recognising the completeness of the dossier submitted for detailed examination with a view to the possible inclusion of mesosulfuron methyl in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC (Sanco/612/00).

Vote : favourable opinion by unanimity.

3. Draft Commission Decision making it possible for Member States to extend provisional authorisations granted for the new active substances flupyrsulfuron-methyl, carfentrazone-ethyl, famoxadone, prosulfuron, isoxaflutole, flurtamone, ethoxysulfuron, P aecilomyces fumosoroseus, cyclanilide (Sanco/611/2001 rev 2).

Vote : favourable opinion by qualified majority (83 votes). Against: 4 votes.

4. Draft Commission Decision concerning the non-inclusion of parathion in Annex 1 to Council Directive 91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of authorisations for plant protection products containing this active substance (Sanco/3998/00, review report Sanco/3067/99 rev. 2).

Vote : unanimous favourable opinion.

5. Draft Commission Regulation laying down the active substances of plant protection products and designating the rapporteur Member States for the implementation of Commission Regulation (EC) N° 451/2000 (Sanco/4191/2000 rev5).

The Committee took note of the reports of the notifications received in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 (1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 451/2000 and notes that the result of the examination concerning their admissibility, taking also into account recent withdrawal of notifications, is reflected in the draft Regulation laying down the active substances of plant protection products to be assessed in the second and third stages of the work programme referred to in Article 8(2) of Directive 91/414/EEC and revising the list of Member States designated as rapporteurs for those substances (doc. SANCO/4191/2000/rev.5).

The Commission made the following recommendation to the Member States in relation to the provisions of Article 6 (4) of Commission Regulation 451/2000 :

"The dossiers should be submitted in accordance with the format foreseen in Document 1663/VI/94 Rev. 8 of 22 April 1998 : Guidelines and Criteria for the Preparation and Presentation of Complete Dossiers and of Summary Dossiers for the Inclusion of Active Substances in Annex I of Directive 91/414/EEC (Article 5.3 and 8.2).

Dossiers should be submitted in electronic format wherever possible. Where electronic copies are submitted they will only be accepted if they are compiled in accordance with the Format Specification for CADDY Version 1.1 Document Interchange Format for Pesticides Registration Applications September 23 1997.

Submissions in electronic format will inter alia reduce the number of paper copies to be submitted.

Member States should provide full details of this preferred format to all notifiers as soon as possible."

Vote : unanimous favourable opinion.

6. Draft Commission Directive amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (data requirements for microbial plant protection products) (Sanco/2885/2000 rev 6).

Vote : unanimous favourable opinion.

7. Other business

7.1: Attendance of experts from accession countries to technical meetings

The delegation from Greece requests clarification on participation of experts from accession countries to expert meetings in the peer review process of active substances. It is considered important that experts from these countries can participate in the technical meetings to gain experience. This is supported by the delegation from Sweden.

COM responds that a final position has not yet been defined but it will inform Member States as soon as this is the case. Issues regarding confidentiality are currently examined by the legal services.

7.2: Reimbursement of delegates in workgroups of the Standing Committee for Plant Health

The Swedish delegation requests clarification of the further reimbursement of experts attending the workgroups of the Standing Committee for Plant Health. Two delegates per Member State are necessary to cover all aspects of the complex and technical questions discussed. This concern is expressed by all Member States.

The Commission takes note of the concern. For budgetary reasons reimbursement may be possible only for one delegate per Member State.

The measures on which the Committee has given its opinion are subject to the appropriate procedures for formal adoption by the Commission.

List of participants

Comité Comité phytosanitaire - legislation Date : 2 March 2001