News

On 20/05/2020, the European Commission, together with the Farm to Fork Strategy, issued an evaluation of the Regulation on the placing of plant protection products on the market and an evaluation of the Regulation on maximum residue levels of pesticides, which have been carried out over the last four years. According to the document, many pesticides are used longer than would be appropriate due to delays in the approval process of EU Member States. According to the European Commission, this automatically extends licenses for substances that no longer meet the criteria for approval in the EU. Delays also occur in the case of the authorization of alternative active substances. The European Commission is therefore proposing sixteen steps to strengthen the implementation of the regulation and states that, if the situation does not improve, it will consider instituting infringement proceedings against EU countries that repeatedly fail to meet the legal deadlines for submitting their pesticide opinions. European Commission criticizes 300% increase in emergency authorizations for plant protection products, so the Commission plans to strengthen Harmonized Risk Indicators under the Sustainable Pesticides Directive & work with Member States to develop improved guidelines for emergency authorizations for plant protection products. The Commission notes that between 2011 and 2018, the licenses for 22 specific active substances were not approved or renewed, which significantly reduced the risks for consumers, citizens, and agricultural workers. The Commission is reviewing all authorizations for active substances, the review should be completed in 2025. The Commission will also aim at rigorous implementation of both regulations, strengthen the implementation of defining criteria for plant protection products, simplify the evaluation system for alternative substances, develop a methodology for assessing cumulative risks of plant protection products, or to identify solutions for minor uses.
More information is available here.

On 20/05/2020, the European Commission, together with the Farm to Fork Strategy, also published an evaluation of the implementation of the national targets of the EU Member States in the field of sustainable use of pesticides. According to a European Commission document, only 8 Member States (AT, BE, DK, FR, DE, LT, LU, ES) completed revisions of their national action plans on time, i.e. within the required deadline of 5 years. Following revisions, 7 of these 8 Member States have revised their action plans. Revisions of the national plans were subsequently completed by CY, CZ, EE, FI, HU, IE, LV, MT, PL, PT, RO, SE and SE, but the Commission notes that these countries did not meet the required revision deadline after five years. Based on the revisions, Germany established a target of a 30% reduction in potential risk to the environment by 2023 compared to a baseline of the average for 1996-2005. Denmark established targets for a 40% reduction in the Pesticide Load Indicator and a 40% reduction in the load from substances of very high concern by the end of 2015, compared to 2011. Finally, France set a target for a 25% reduction in plant protection product use by 2020, and a 50% reduction in use by 2025, compared to 2015. However, according to the European Commission, most Member States did not learn from weaknesses (the Commission identified weaknesses in individual action plans), and therefore, most Member States' action plans lack the required ambitions and do not set the required reduction targets.
More information is available here.

On 20/05/2020, the European Commission, together with the Farm to Fork Strategy, issued an evaluation of the EU Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods. According to the Commission, the objectives of the Regulation have not been met – specially to ensure that all food labelling claims are clear, accurate and based on scientific evidence. The European Commission was originally scheduled to present a proposal to set nutrient profiles & maximum levels for fat, sugar, and salt in foods in January 2009, but this was not the case due to Member States' opposition. However, the Commission has again included in Farm to Fork Strategy the setting of nutritional profiles of foods and maximum levels for fat, salt and sugar in the Commission's work program, the nutrient profiles should be submitted by the Commission during 2022. According to the results of the evaluation of the Food Labelling Regulation, nutritional profiles are necessary to meet the objectives of this Regulation and to ensure a high level of consumer protection. As regards health claims for plants and plant products (herbal medicinal products), the Commission states in the evaluation that only claims for products that are assessed as food are harmonized in the EU. In 2012, the Commission drew up a list of 2,078 health claims for herbal substances whose use (harmonized at EU level) has been suspended, but which producers can continue to use at their own risk. However, according to the new assessment, consumers continue to be exposed to unfounded health claims. According to the Commission, consumers can assume that health claims are based on scientific evidence (but the European Food Safety Authority has not issued any positive opinions) and that the risks of the possible use of these herbal substances are assessed and controlled. The Commission therefore does not rule out the possibility of harmonizing EU claims for herbal substances, including an assessment of the safety of their use.
More information is available here, here and here.

On 20/05/2020, the European Commission, together with the Farm to Fork Strategy, also issued a report on other uses and the presentation of nutrition claims on the front of food packaging. According to the European Commission, it is desirable to introduce a harmonized nutrition labelling system for food packaging at European Union level, not only the analysis of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) but also the Commission's consultation with EU Member States contributed to this decision. According to previous studies, nutrition labelling helps consumers make decisions about healthier food options and facilitates an overview of healthy foods. At present, labelling is voluntary, and a number of colour and symbol labelling schemes have been developed as a part of voluntary labelling (for example, NutriScore supported by FR, BE, ES, DE, NL and LU, including "heart" labelling - in FI and SI, or the "keyhole" system used in SE, DK, and LT). The Commission states that there is insufficient empirical evidence to assess the real impact of nutrition labelling on nutrition and consumer health, but that model studies show that labelling has a positive effect on consumer health. The European Commission will start work in the coming months to assess the impact of different nutrition labelling options on the front of food packaging, followed by a legislative proposal to harmonize labelling in the EU during 2022. It will be a legislative act, so its implementation will be mandatory.
More information is available here.

On 20/05/2020, the European Commission issued, together with the Farm to Fork Strategy a Fitness Check Roadmap of the EU legislation on animal welfare of farmed animals. According to the Roadmap, the revision of EU legislation should start in the first half of 2020 and should run for almost 18 months until the end of 2021. The revision of EU welfare legislation will be handled by the DG for Health and Food Safety. There should also be topics of animals kept for economic purposes, animal welfare labelling and the transport of live animals. The European Commission will aim to strengthen animal welfare rules and strengthen sustainable agricultural production, focusing on the overall effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, added value and coherence of the rules. The European Commission has already launched a public consultation on the revision of animal welfare legislation.
More information is available here.