The Council of the European Union has adopted a negotiating position that scales back the European Commission's plan to approve most pesticide active substances indefinitely, setting a maximum of 15 years for a first approval and 25 years for a renewal, according to a Council document dated 30 September reported by Global Agriculture.
Under the Commission's proposal, part of the "Omnibus X" simplification package on food and feed safety rules, most plant protection products other than the most hazardous would have received permanent authorisation once approved. The Council text keeps unlimited approval only for substances classed as low-risk. Substances approved under the narrower derogation in Article 4(7) of the EU pesticide framework would be limited to five years for both approval and renewal.
Member states could allow grace periods for selling and using existing stocks after an approval lapses or is withdrawn: 18 months normally, and up to three years where no alternative product is available in that country. A related measure would lengthen the protection of the test and study data companies submit for registration.
Ireland, which holds the Council presidency, steered the file through the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 28 and 29 September, chaired by Irish agriculture minister Martin Heydon. Thomas Byrne, Ireland's minister of state for European affairs, called it another step in easing the compliance burden on farmers while keeping health and environmental safeguards. The Council will negotiate with the European Parliament once MEPs agree their position, aiming for a provisional deal before the end of 2026.
Pesticide Action Network Europe warned that longer approval windows and looser data and sell-through rules could keep hazardous substances in use for longer. Industry groups have broadly welcomed the direction, saying the current renewal process is so slow that Europe is losing active substances faster than new ones are approved.
Regulators in Latin America, Asia and Africa watch the EU regime closely when setting their own rules, so the outcome of the talks also matters to exporters selling food into the EU, where a separate debate on applying EU pesticide standards to imports is under way.
Source: Global Agriculture
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