The European Commission has adopted the scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in the context of the plant protection products (PPPs) legislation, after no objection was raised either by the Council or the European Parliament during the scrutiny period which ended on 9 April 2018. These criteria for PPPs will become applicable on 10 November 2018.

This finalises the adoption of a stringent legislation on endocrine disruptors proposed by the Commission in 2016 – very similar scientific criteria for biocides will become applicable on 7 June 2018. The EU is now the first worldwide to have strict legally binding criteria to identify endocrine disruptors. The criteria adopted today will apply to all on-going and future evaluations of active substances used in plant protection products.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are currently finalising a technical Guidance document to implement the criteria both for biocides and pesticides. The Guidance document will be available in June 2018. For more information here.