The European Commission cannot systematically and automatically grant extensions of pesticide approvals in case of delays in the re-assessment process. This was clarified by the EU Court of Justice today in a case started by PAN Europe. The ruling should limit the recurrent practice of extending the approval for pesticides year after year without evaluation of risks to health and the environment.
Hans Muilerman, Senior Chemicals Officer at PAN Europe, says: “This judgement should help to ban dangerous pesticides that are proven to be harmful to health and the environment. It will put an end to the recurrent practice of the pesticide industry to provide incomplete application dossiers that lead to up to 10 years delays in the re-evaluation of pesticides' safety. This strategy keeps toxic substances on the market many years after scientific research has proven their toxicity.”
PAN Europe challenged the European Commission’s extension of approval of fungicide Dimoxystrobin before the EU General Court. While EU law requires pesticides' safety to be reviewed every 10 to 15 years in the EU, reality is that many substances undergo an up to 10-year delay in the revision process after the initial approval period ends.
Today, the EU Court clarified that the Commission’s practice of granting long, repeated extensions of pesticide approvals is illegal. It further stated that the pesticide law only allows exceptional and temporary extensions and must be tailored to the concrete progress of the risk assessment. The Commission failed to carefully assess and justify the precise period needed to finalise the risk assessment. Granting a 6-year extension for Dimoxystrobin approval was therefore illegal.
Importantly, the Court reaffirmed that the Commission must uphold the precautionary principle and the primacy of human health and environmental protection.
Pr. Antoine Bailleux, PAN Europe's Counsel, adds: “The Court indicated that systematic or automatic use of its right to extend the approval period of substances brings the Commission in violation of both the letter and the spirit of the EU pesticides legislation, which is to prioritise human health and the environment over economic considerations.”
Salomé Roynel, Policy Officer at PAN Europe, concludes: “The Court reminds that the law sets strict deadlines for pesticide risk assessments. Their systematic disrespect by the Commission leads to citizens and the environment remaining unduly exposed to toxic pesticides.”
The Court also published two similar judgements in cases brought by Pollinis on the extension of approval of boscalid and Aurelia Stiftung on the extension of glyphosate's approval before it was re-approved in 2023. [2].
Mathis Buis, a campaigner at Pollinis (France), said: “This is a major victory for the protection of biodiversity in Europe. The abusive practice of granting systematic prolongations allows many bee-killing pesticides, such as boscalid, to continue to be marketed for several years after their marketing authorisation expires, without a new risk assessment, and despite mounting scientific evidence of their toxicity.”
Background information
Every year, dozens of extensions of approvals are given to toxic pesticides. In 2021, the year prior to the launch of the Court case, the European Commission had given no less than 136 such extensions to some 30% of the pesticide active substances approved in the EU.
PAN Europe has identified that one of the first reasons for such a delay is the provision, by the pesticides industry, of incomplete application dossiers. While Member States are supposed to reject such incomplete dossiers, they accept them, leading to years of delays in the revision process. Another reason for long delays is linked to the fact that Member States do not hire the required staff to meet the legal deadlines from the risk assessment procedure. Member States have the possibility to raise fees in order to hire sufficient qualified staff, but they do not use this possibility, leading to delays in the delivery of their assessment.
The verdict is the third major legal victory for PAN Europe. In 2023, the EU Court of Justice declared the practice to systematically grant derogations for banned pesticides illegal. In 2024, the court clarified that when re-evaluating a pesticide, the latest independent scientific findings need to be taken into account. In an obvious attempt to circumvent an effective implementation of the EU Pesticide Law, the EU Commission now plans to propose severe weakening of the law in an attempt to subordinate health and environment to the interests of the pesticide industry. [3]
The ruling can be found HERE.
Contact:
- Salomé Roynel, Policy Officer, salome [at] pan-europe.info, +32 451 02 31 33
- Martin Dermine, Executive Director, martin [at] pan-europe.info, +32 486 32 99 92
Notes:
[1] Initial request by PAN Europe
[2] PAN Europe and partners challenge the re-authorisation of glyphosate in the EU Court.
