WRITTEN QUESTION E-0633/96 by Giacomo Santini (UPE) to the Commission (15 March 1996)

Subject: Authorization for the marketing of plant health products for minor crops

Italian regulations on authorizing the use of plant health products for various crops are highly complex and in fact prevent farmers from being able to use low-toxicity products - which are the result of the most up-to-date research and are more effective in agricultural terms - to protect their crops. The need to harmonize the laws of the various Member States in line with Article 100 et seq. of the Treaty of Rome is increasingly evident in Italy, since the strict regulations in this sphere entail cumbersome procedures for using the new active substances which are authorized annually in the other Community Member States. Italian farmers are therefore increasingly at a disadvantage in view of the severe competition from other EU Member States on the Italian market, even though the latter are marketing products obtained using plant protection substances which are not authorized in Italy. Italian producers of berries, chestnuts, hazel nuts, garlic, lentils, etc. are being doubly penalized in that, as well as imposing excessively complicated procedures for authorizing plant protection products, Italian legislation imposes far more restrictive tolerance levels for residues than those laid down by the various European Union directives.

Can the Commission ensure that it takes steps as soon as possible, and in any case when introducing the new COM, to adopt more binding legislation (e.g. regulations rather than directives) on plant protection products so as, on the one hand, to guarantee a proper system of competition between the various producer countries and, on the other hand, to encourage scientific research to identify plant protection techniques which are beneficial to the environment and to consumer health?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (3 May 1996)

The Commission has sought information from the Italian authorities on the point raised by the Honourable Member and can accordingly inform him that the provisions of Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, ((OJ L 230, 19.8.1995. )) which require Member States to ensure that only effective, safe and environmentally friendly products are sold and used, have been transposed into Italian law by Legislative Decree No 194 of 17 March 1995.

Italy has also incorporated into its law various Community directives - notably Directives 76/895/EEC, ((OJ L 340, 9.12.1976. )) 86/362/EEC, ((OJ L 221, 7.8.1986. )) 86/363/EEC ((ibid. )) and 90/642/EEC ((OJ L 350, 14.12.1990. )) and amendments to their annexes - concerning pesticide residues in agricultural products, the effect of which has been to lower a number of the threshold values formerly applied in Italy under domestic law, while raising others. Limits not yet harmonized at Community level are set in Italy on the basis of scientific and technical tests designed to evaluate the risk to the consumer.

If the Honourable Member wishes to provide specific details of some of the cases to which he refers, the Commission will look into the matter further. The Commission is currently working on further harmonization of procedures relating to the registration and placing on the market of plant protection products, and work on further alignment of the limits for residues of major pesticides in agricultural products is also well advanced.