Friday 24 April 2009

Statistics on plant protection products ***II

P6_TA(2009)0318

European Parliament legislative resolution of 24 April 2009 on the Council common position for adopting a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning statistics on plant protection products (11120/2/2008 – C6-0004/2009 – 2006/0258(COD))

2010/C 184 E/78

(Codecision procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

having regard to the Council common position (11120/2/2008 – C6-0004/2009) (1),

having regard to its position at first reading (2) on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2006)0778),

having regard to Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty,

having regard to Rule 62 of its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A6-0256/2009),

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

(1) OJ C 38 E, 17.2.2009, p. 1.

(2) OJ C 66 E, 20.3.2009, p. 98.

Friday 24 April 2009

P6_TC2-COD(2006)0258

Position of the European Parliament adopted at second reading on 24 April 2009 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EC) No …/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning statistics on plant protection products

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1) Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme (3) recognised that the impact of pesticides on human health and the environment, in particular from plant protection products used in agriculture, must be reduced further. It underlined the need to achieve more sustainable use of pesticides and called for a significant overall reduction of risks and the use of pesticides consistent with the necessary crop protection.

(2) In its Communication to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee entitled ‘Towards a Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides’, the Commission recognised the need for detailed, harmonised and up-to-date statistics on sales and use of pesticides at Community level. Such statistics are necessary for assessing policies of the European Union on sustainable development and for calculating relevant indicators on the risks for health and the environment related to pesticide use.

(3) Harmonised and comparable Community statistics on pesticide sales and use are essential for the development and monitoring of Community legislation and policies in the context of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides.

(4) Since the effects of the Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market (4) will not become apparent until well after 2006, when the first evaluation of active substances for use in biocidal products will be finalised, neither the Commission nor most Member States currently have sufficient knowledge or experience to propose further measures regarding biocides. The scope of this Regulation should thus be limited to plant protection products covered by Regulation (EC) No …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council of… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market] (5), for which a large experience already exists on data collection.

(5) The experience of the Commission in collecting data on sales and use of plant protection products over many years has demonstrated the need to have a harmonised methodology for collecting statistics at Community level both from the stage of placing on the market and from users. Moreover, in view of the aim of calculating accurate risk indicators according to the objectives of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, statistics need to be detailed up to the level of the active substances.

(6) Among the different data collection options evaluated in the impact assessment of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, mandatory data collection was recommended as the best option because it would allow the development of accurate and reliable data on the placing on the market and use of plant protection products quickly and cost-efficiently.

(7) Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (6) constitutes the reference framework for the provisions of this Regulation. In particular, it requires conformity to standards of impartiality, reliability, relevance, cost-effectiveness, statistical confidentiality and transparency.

(8) The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 322/97 and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (7). Measures which are taken in accordance with those Regulations ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and ensure that no unlawful disclosure and non-statistical use occur when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.

(9) The necessary protection of confidentiality on data of commercial value should be assured, among other means, by an appropriate aggregation when publishing statistics.

(10) To guarantee comparable results, statistics on plant protection products should be produced in accordance with a specified breakdown, in an appropriate form and within a fixed period of time from the end of a reference year as defined in the Annexes of this Regulation.

(11) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (8).

(12) In particular the Commission should be empowered to define the area treated and to adapt Annex III. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(13) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on the placing on the market and use of plant protection products, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(14) The Statistical Programme Committee, established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (9), has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter, scope and objectives

1. This Regulation establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on the placing on the market and use of those pesticides which are plant protection products , as defined in point (i) of point (a) of Article 2.

2. The statistics shall apply to:

— the annual amounts of plant protection products placed on the market in accordance with Annex I;

— the annual agricultural use amounts of plant protection products in accordance with Annex II.

3. The statistics shall, in particular, together with other relevant data serve the purposes of Article 14 of Directive …/…/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of … [establishing a framework for Community action to achieve a sustainable use of pesticides] (10).

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘plant protection products’ means plant protection products as referred to in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market];

(b) ‘substances’ means substances as defined in point (2) of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market], including active substances, safeners and synergists;

(c) ‘active substances’ means active substances as referred to in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market];

(d) ‘safeners’ means safeners as referred to in Article 2(3)(a) of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market];

(e) ‘synergists’ means synergists as referred to in Article 2(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market];

(f) ‘placing on the market’ means placing on the market as defined in point (8) of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market];

(g) ‘authorisation holder’ means authorisation holder as defined in point (20) of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market];

(h) ‘agricultural use’ means any type of application of a plant protection product associated directly or indirectly with the production of plant products in the context of the economic activity of an agricultural holding;

(i) ‘professional user’ means professional user as defined in point (1) of Article 3 of Directive …/…/EC [establishing a framework for Community action to achieve a sustainable use of pesticides];

(j) ‘agricultural holding’ means agricultural holding as defined in Regulation (EC) No …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council of … [on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods] (11).

Article 3

Data collection, transmission and processing

1. Member States shall collect the data necessary for the specification of the characteristics listed in Annexes I and II by means of:

— surveys,

— obligations concerning the placing of the plant protection products on the market; in particular, obligations pursuant to Article 67 of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market],

— obligations applicable to professional users based on records kept on the use of plant protection products; in particular, obligations pursuant to Article 67 of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market],

— administrative sources, or

— a combination of these means, including statistical estimation procedures on the basis of expert judgements or models.

2. Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the statistical results, including confidential data, according to the schedules and with the periodicity specified in Annexes I and II. Data shall be presented according to the classification given in Annex III.

3. Member States shall transmit the data in electronic form, in conformity with an appropriate technical format to be adopted by the Commission (Eurostat) in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 6(2).

4. For reasons of confidentiality, the Commission (Eurostat) shall aggregate the data before publication according to the chemical classes or categories of products indicated in Annex III, taking due account of the protection of confidential data at the level of individual Member State. In accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97, confidential data shall be used by national authorities and by the Commission (Eurostat) exclusively for statistical purposes.

Article 4

Quality assessment

1. For the purpose of this Regulation, the following quality assessment dimensions shall apply to the data to be transmitted:

— ‘relevance’ refers to the degree to which statistics meet current and potential needs of the users;

— ‘accuracy’ refers to the closeness of estimates to the unknown true values;

— ‘timeliness’ refers to the time lag between the availability of the information and the event or phenomenon it describes;

— ‘punctuality’ refers to the time lag between the date of the release of the data and the target date when it should have been delivered;

— ‘accessibility’ and ‘clarity’ refer to the conditions and modalities by which users can obtain, use and interpret data;

— ‘comparability’ refers to the measurement of the impact of differences in applied statistical concepts and measurement tools and procedures when statistics are compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains or over time;

— ‘coherence’ refers to the adequacy of the data to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses.

2. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with reports on the quality of the data transmitted as referred to in Annexes I and II. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of data transmitted.

Article 5

Implementation measures

1. The Commission shall adopt the appropriate technical format for the transmission of data in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 6(2).

2. The Commission shall adopt the definition of the ‘area treated’ as referred to in Section 2 of Annex II. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 6(3).

3. The Commission may amend the harmonised classification of substances as defined in Annex III for the purpose of adapting it to changes in the list of active substances adopted in accordance with Article 78(3) of Regulation (EC) No …/… [concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market]. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 6(3).

Article 6

Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be three months.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 7

Report

The Commission shall submit a report on the implementation of the Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council every five years. This report shall evaluate in particular the quality of data transmitted, as referred to in Article 4, the burden on businesses, agricultural holdings and national administrations and the usefulness of these statistics in the context of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides in particular with regard to the objectives set out in Article 1. It shall, if appropriate, contain proposals designed to further improve data quality and reduce the burden on businesses, agricultural holdings and national administrations.

The first report shall be submitted by 1 January … (12).

Article 8

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at For the European Parliament The President For the Council The President

(1) OJ C 256, 27.10.2007, p. 86.

(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 March 2008 ( OJ C 66 E, 20.3.2009, p. 98 ), Council Common Position of 20 November 2008 (OJ C 38 E, 17.2.2009, p. 1) and Position of the European Parliament of 24 April 2009.

(3) OJ L 242, 10.9.2002, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 123, 24.4.1998, p. 1.

(5) OJ L …

(6) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 151, 15.6.1990, p. 1.

(8) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

(9) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

(10) OJ L

(11) OJ L …

(12) Eight years from the year of the adoption of this Regulation.

Friday 24 April 2009

ANNEX I Statistics on placing of plant protection products on the market SECTION 1 Coverage The statistics shall cover substances listed in Annex III contained in plant protection products placed on the market in each Member State. Special attention shall be paid to avoiding double counting in the event of product reconditioning or transfer of authorisation between authorisation holders. SECTION 2 Variables The quantity of each substance listed in Annex III contained in plant protection products placed on the market shall be compiled. SECTION 3 Reporting measure Data shall be expressed in kilograms of substances. SECTION 4 Reference period The reference period shall be the calendar year. SECTION 5 First reference period, periodicity and transmission of results 1. The first reference period is the second calendar year following … (1). 2. Member States shall supply data for every calendar year subsequent to the first reference period. 3. Data shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of the reference year. SECTION 6 Quality report Member States shall supply the Commission (Eurostat) with a quality report, referred to in Article 4, indicating: — the methodology used to collect data; — relevant aspects of quality according to the methodology used to collect data; — a description of estimations, aggregations and exclusion methods used. This report shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) within 15 months of the end of the reference year. (1) The date of entry into force of this Regulation.

Friday 24 April 2009

ANNEX II Statistics on agricultural use of plant protection products SECTION 1 Coverage 1. Statistics shall cover substances listed in Annex III contained in plant protection products used in agriculture on each selected crop in each Member State. 2. Each Member State shall establish the selection of crops to be covered during the five-year period defined in Section 5. The selection shall be designed to be representative of the crops cultivated in the Member State and of the substances used. The selection of crops shall take into account the most relevant crops for the national action plans as referred to in Article 4 of Directive …/…/EC [establishing a framework for Community action to achieve a sustainable use of pesticides]. SECTION 2 Variables For each selected crop the following variables shall be compiled: (a) the quantity of each substance listed in Annex III contained in plant protection products used on this crop, and (b) the area treated with each substance. SECTION 3 Reporting measures 1. Quantities of substances used shall be expressed in kilograms. 2. Areas treated shall be expressed in hectares. SECTION 4 Reference period 1. The reference period shall, in principle, be a period of maximum 12 months covering all plant protection treatments associated with the crop. 2. The reference period shall be reported as the year in which the harvest began. SECTION 5 First reference period, periodicity and transmission of results 1. For each five-year period, Member States shall compile statistics on the use of plant protection products for each selected crop within a reference period as defined in Section 4. 2. Member States may choose the reference period at any time of the five-year period. The choice can be made independently for each selected crop. 3. The first five-year period shall start at the first calendar year following … (1). 4. Member States shall supply data for every five-year period. 5. Data shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of each five-year period. SECTION 6 Quality report When they transmit their results, Member States shall supply the Commission (Eurostat) with a quality report, referred to in Article 4, indicating: — the design of the sampling methodology; — the methodology used to collect data; — an estimation of the relative importance of the crops covered with regard to the overall amount of plant protection products used; — relevant aspects of quality according to the methodology used to collect data; — a comparison between data on plant protection products used during the five-year period and plant protection products placed on the market during the five corresponding years. (1) The date of the entry into force of this Regulation.