ECPA helps launch pesticide hotline and international conference

In partnership with the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) Spain is launching a telephone hotline, while Poland is holding an international conference of enforcement officials from 18 different countries to help in the fight against counterfeit and illegal pesticides.?

Counterfeit pesticides in Spain have become particularly problematic, says ECPA, especially in Almería. Informants can now use hotline set up by the Spanish Crop Protection Association (AEPLA) to report the use of illegal plant protection products or provide information about networks that distribute illegal products. Information received through the hot-line will be passed directly to the Spanish environmental police – Seprona – and to other authorities who conduct inspections and enforce legislation to eradicate the trafficking of illegal pesticides.?

The Polish Crop Protection Association (PSOR) is also actively campaigning against illegal pesticides through a conference being held in Warsaw on Dec. 13, 2008. The 2nd International Conference on "Counterfeit Plant Protection Products" – organized jointly by PSOR with the Polish State Plant Health and Seed Inspection Service – will bring together representatives of enforcement authorities from 18 countries from the EU and beyond, including those responsible for the control of Plant Protection Products, to share experiences and learn from each others' efforts to combat counterfeit and illegal pesticides and provide input to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers in relation to the European Anti-counterfeit strategy.