The European Ombudsman urges the European Commission to abandon its unlawful pesticide approval practice
de Vries,Anne
de Vries,Anne
Abstract
On 18 February 2016, the European Ombudsman delivered a decision (case 12/2013/MDC) that has the potential to thoroughly shake up the manner in which the European Commission authorises plant protection products (PPPs). Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN-Europe) brought the case before the Ombudsman. It alleged that the Commission approves potentially unsafe PPPs and disregards data gaps in the risk assessment, thereby ignoring concerns raised by the European Food and Safety Authority. PAN-Europe also argued that the Commission fails to set appropriate risk mitigation measures and to check Member States’ compliance with those measures. The Ombudsman largely agreed with PAN-Europe. She found that the Commission indeed authorised substances, even when it was unclear whether a substance met the legal health and environmental safety requirements. The Ombudsman made several recommendations to the Commission for bringing its approval practice, which constitutes maladministration, in conformity with EU pesticide law.
Description
Date
2016-06
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Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
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Keywords
plant protection productss, risk assessment, EU pesticide law, EU Ombudsman
Citation
de Vries, A 2016, 'The European Ombudsman urges the European Commission to abandon its unlawful pesticide approval practice', European Journal of Risk Regulation, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 413-415. < http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2840860 >