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New regulation for the use of pesticides planned

The European Commission is proposing a draft regulation for the sustainable use of pesticides

[Translate to en:] Quelle: Getty Images, CactuSoup

The regulation aims to implement the EU's farm-to-fork strategy for a healthy and environmentally sound food system. It aims to reduce the use of and risk from chemical pesticides all over the EU by 50% until 2030. This goal shall be made legally binding. Memberstates can decide themselves based on different intensities of use to reduce 35 %, 50 % or 65 %. To reach the goal various obligatory measures and strict new rules for environmentally friendly plant protection are proposed. Bans on the use of plant protection products in areas classified as sensitive for health or nature conservation reasons are included, as well as extended regulations for the implementation of integrated pest management. This initially prefers preventive and non-chemical measures such as the use of regionally adapted resistant varieties, diversified crop rotations or the use and support of beneficial insects. Chemical agents are just used as ultima ratio when these preventive concepts are not effective and certain damage thresholds have been exceeded.

Member States must set their own strategies to achieve the goal. The National Action Plans for sustainable plant protection would have to be updated and implemented for this purpose. The legislative proposal contains concrete content specifications for these plans, including annual reporting. The Commission's proposal now undergoes the ordinary legislative procedure and will be negotiated by the Member States in the Council and the European Parliament in the trilogue procedure.

The legislative proposal was an outcome of the evaluation process of Directive 2009/128/EC establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides. The planned regulation will replace Directive 2009/128/EC in the future and then immediately apply in all Memberstates.

The draft regulation and further information on the evaluation of Directive 2009/128/EC are available here .