G/SPS/GEN/1590  
 
17 November 2017 
(17-6254) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 INVITATION TO WTO ME MBERS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE EVALUATION  
OF THE EU PESTICIDE LEGISLATION  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION  
The following communication, dated 16 November  2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of  the European Union . 
 
_______________  
 
 
1.  Plant protection products and their residues are regulated in the European Union (EU) by 
Regulation (EC) No 1107/20091 and Regulation (EC) No 396/20052. The European Commission has 
decided to carry out an evidence -based evaluation of th ese two regulations in order to assess if 
they are still fit for purpose and meet the needs of citizens, businesses and public institutions in an 
efficient manner. The evaluation is part of the European Commission's Better Regulation Agenda, 
which aims at designing and evaluating EU policies and laws transparently, on the basis of 
evidence, and taking into account the views of citizens and stakeholde rs. 
2.  The EU 's trading partners are invited to contribute to the evaluation by responding to a 
stakeholder surv ey. Information and views from trading partners will enable the European 
Commission to better understand impacts of the current provisions of the two Regulations on 
international trade.  
3.  The survey is available online and is open until 31 December 2017. The  EU's trading partners 
are invited to respond to the survey, in particular to questions 107 -112 on international trade. It is 
not necessary to answer all the questions, as the survey is addressed to all stakeholders and not 
all chapters are expected to be of the same importa nce for all stakeholder groups.  
4.  The European Commission will report on the outcome of the evaluation to the European Council 
and the European Parliament. The report is expected to be completed in the beginning of 2019.  
5.  A webpage dedicate d to the evaluation has been created by the European Commission and it 
will be updated as appropriate during that process.  
Relevant links:  
 The survey is accessible at:  
https://s.chkmkt.com /?e=100528&h=EA0019E298B081E&l=en  
 The European Commission 's webpage dedicated to the evaluation is accessible at:  
https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/refit_en  
                                                
1 Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 
concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC 
and 91/414/EE C. 
2 Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 on 
maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin and amending Council 
Directive 91/414/EEC . G/SPS/GEN/1 590 
 
- 2 - 
 
   Regulation (EC) No 110 7/2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the 
market is accessible at:  
http://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32009R1107  
 Regulation  (EC) No 396/2005 on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed 
of plant and animal origin is accessible at:  
http://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/ALL/ ?uri=CELEX%3A32005R0396  
 
__________