2 Statistics on plant protection products
| (28167)
16738/06
+ ADDs 1-2
COM(06) 778
| Draft Regulation concerning statistics on plant protection products
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| Legal base | Article 285(1) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 11 December 2006
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| Deposited in Parliament | 18 December 2006
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 9 February 2007
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| Previous Committee Report | None but see footnotes 3 and 5
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information awaited
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Background
2.1 As foreshadowed in the Sixth Environmental Action Programme,
the Commission produced in July 2002 a Communication "Towards
a Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides".[3]
This identified that by far the biggest use of pesticides[4]
is in agriculture; that, because of their significant economic
benefits, that use has been widely accepted, notwithstanding the
risks; but that there was a need to reduce those risks. The Communication
also identified the main Community instruments affecting pesticide
use, and pointed to certain shortcomings in this legislation,
concluding that, whilst the efforts made so far at both national
and Community level had been encouraging, they lacked overall
coherence. It therefore said that any further reduction in the
risks from pesticides required that existing legislation should
be fully implemented and that new initiatives should be taken
in order to maintain momentum.
2.2 In the light of reactions to its earlier Communication,
the Commission brought forward in July 2006 a definitive Thematic
Strategy[5] covering, not
just marketing authorisations and residue levels, but all stages
in the pesticides "life cycle". Its objectives include
the establishment of a transparent system for reporting and monitoring
progress in fulfilling the objectives of the strategy, and the
purpose of this proposal is to put in place the measures needed
to underpin such a step.
The current proposal
2.3 The proposal would address the collection, by
means of surveys, reporting obligations (or a combination of these,
including statistical estimation procedures), of information on:
- the amounts by weight of certain
specified active substances placed on the market each year for
plant protection purposes;
- the amounts by weight of active substances used
each year on those crops which receive 75% of the total quantity
of active substances placed on the market for agricultural use,
together with details of the total area cultivated and the area
of crop treated with each substance: in addition, there would
need to be a report on each crop at least once every five years.
Member States would also be required to produce periodic
reports with an estimate of the total quantities of the major
pesticide product groups placed on the market for agricultural
and non-agricultural use.
2.4 The Commission has accompanied its proposal with
an impact assessment, which suggests that the net economic impact
for the Community as a whole from implementing this proposal would
up to €15
million. According to the Commission, €9
million would fall on national authorities, €4 million on
users, and €2 million on the industry
The Government's view
2.5 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 9 February 2007,
the Minister for Sustainable Farming and Food at the Department
of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker) says that
this Regulation would broadly improve the systems for the collection
of information on plant protection products across the Community,
and would inform the policy-making process and citizens, provide
information for the calculation of indicators, monitor changes
in use, inform the Community review and national approvals processes,
obtain more information on farming practice, and provide details
to assist the residue monitoring of foodstuff programmes. He adds
that it would also establish a transparent system for reporting
and monitoring the progress made in achieving the objectives of
the Thematic Strategy, including the development of suitable indicators.
2.6 The Minister identifies two key issues on the
proposal. First, on sales data, he says that the Government has
some doubts over the relevance of this as a means of establishing
the impact of pesticides on the environment, and regards it as
less than accurate usage data, which the UK already collects (though
it recognises that it may be useful as a proxy for usage where
Member States do not have detailed surveys). However, he also
acknowledges that some Member States interpret the Strategy's
objective of improving controls on the distribution of pesticides
and monitoring their impact as constituting an obligation to collect
sales data, though he says that the Government would like to see
a measure of flexibility in the method of collection, in order
to minimise the burden on business. Secondly, he suggests that
it would be inappropriate to adopt this proposal until other elements[6]
in the Thematic Strategy are agreed.
2.7 The Minister has also provided a partial Regulatory
Impact Assessment. This suggests that, as most of the necessary
arrangements are already in place in the UK, the costs of the
proposal would be considerably less than those implied by the
Commission. For example, the Government puts the additional annual
costs to industry in the UK at around £30,000 (as compared
with current costs of £14,000). It also says that, if the
collection of sales data continues to be part of the process by
which an annual levy is collected from pesticide approval holders,
the additional costs to Government are likely to be about £10,000
a year, on top of the £240,000 cost of current usage surveys.
However, the Minister notes that the proposal does not currently
contain any provisions on the accuracy of statistics, other than
a requirement for a description of the methods used in the quality
report, and he says that, if such a provision were introduced,
it could increase costs, depending upon the level of accuracy
prescribed. Consequently, the UK will be seeking to ensure that
appropriate, but not disproportionate, quality standards are laid
down.
Conclusion
2.8 On the basis of the information we have received
so far, this appears to be a relatively straightforward proposal,
which seems unlikely to have any major impact within the UK. However,
we note that the Government is proposing to carry out a consultation,
and that this may lead to a revision of the Regulatory Impact
Assessment. We will therefore reserve judgement until we have
seen the results of that exercise, but, in the meantime, we are
drawing this document to the attention of the House.
3 (23653) 10665/02: see HC 152-xxxix (2001-02), para
1 (23 October 2002) Back
4
This is a generic term, which applies to all products which kill
pests. As such, it covers plant protection products for agricultural
use and biocidal products used for non-agricultural purposes.
Plant protection products may in turn be sub-divided into fungicides
(which account for 43% of total use), herbicides (36%), insecticides
(21%), and other pesticides. Back
5
(27729) 11902/06: see HC 34-xxxviii (2005-06), para 1 (18 October
2006).
Back
6
Notably a proposal to replace Directive 91/414/EC controlling
the authorisation of pesticides, and a new Sustainable Use Directive. Back
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