EU to review hazard-based agchem plans?
Date:04-30-2008
There are indications that some EU member states are urging the European Commission to drop its plans to impose hazard-based criteria on agrochemical registrations. At an internal Commission meeting of EU member state representatives in April, countries including Denmark, Ireland, the UK, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria called for a return to a more risk-based approach for approving pesticides, reports Brussels news agency AgraFacts. The move follows several warnings from European groups that the Commission's plans to change the EU agrochemical registration Directive (91/414) could remove many pesticides and jeopardise European food output.
The meeting is one of several being held in preparation for the May meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers, which aims to reach agreement on the Commission's proposals. The Commission revised its proposals earlier this year to incorporate some amendments from the European Parliament but retained its original plan for hazard-based "cut-off" criteria. However, it may be forced into a further revision as the member states expressing concern at the latest meeting hold enough votes to form a blocking minority, AgraFacts notes.
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