Alternative to the regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products

Subject: Alternative to the regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products

On 23 November 2023, Parliament rejected the proposal for a regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products at first reading1. It was one of the most relevant proposals under the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, the aim of which was to address the deficiencies of Directive 2009/128 and halve the use of pesticides by 20302.

In view of the above:

1. Is the Commission planning to pursue its proposal?

2. What other measures is the Commission considering to tackle the unsustainable and indiscriminate use of pesticides in the EU?

Submitted:19.12.2023

1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PV-9-2023-11-22-VOT_EN.html

2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:78120cfb-f5e4-11ec-b976-

01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF

Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission (12 February 2024)

The Commission takes note of, and regrets, the Parliament’s rejection of its proposal (3) for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable use of plant protection products and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and the Parliament’s request that the Commission withdraw its proposal.

The Commission maintains its proposal and continues to monitor closely the process in the Council and to support the work of the co-legislators on this file.

Under the Global Biodiversity Framework Conference of the Parties 15 (COP15) target 7 (4) the EU and Member States have already committed to reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half by 2030, including through integrated pest management (IPM), based on science, taking into account food security and livelihoods.

The Commission, in collaboration with Member States and stakeholders, is taking many actions aiming to promote the availability of low risk and biocontrol alternatives to chemical pesticides.

Concerning IPM, the EU-funded IPM toolbox pilot project (5) already concluded in November 2022 and assessed the potential of currently available IPM-implementing approaches aiming at reducing dependency on pesticide use.

The database developed during the project contains approximately 1300 examples of specific IPM practices and 273 ‘crop- specific guidelines’ developed by national authorities.

The database (6) is publicly available since 28 February 2023. A number of other research projects on IPM are ongoing, such as IPMWORKS (7) and many projects focusing on particular pests (e.g. VIRTIGATION (8), PATAFEST (9), IPM Popillia (10), etc.), which could contribute to crop- and pest-specific implementation of IPM.

1 ∙ ⸱ https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PV-9-2023-11-22-VOT_EN.html

2 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:78120cfb-f5e4-11ec-b976-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF

3 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0305&qid=1705395484291

4 ∙ ⸱ https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-final-text-kunming-montreal-gbf-221222

5 ∙ ⸱ https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/mashup/IPM/index.html

6 ∙ ⸱ https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/news/using-less-chemical-pesticides-european-commission-publishes-toolbox-good-practices-2023-02-28_en

7 ∙ ⸱ https://www.ipmdecisions.net/the-project/partner-projects/ipm-works/

8 ∙ ⸱ https://www.virtigation.eu/

9 ∙ ⸱ https://www.patafest.eu/

10 ∙ ⸱ https://www.popillia.eu/