The European Commission’s leaked draft proposal for the ‘food and feed safety omnibus’ proposes significant weakening of the approval and authorisation system for active substances and pesticide products in place under the current Pesticide Regulation (1107/2009). The most prominent and alarming proposal is the shift toward unlimited approvals and authorisations, except in narrowly defined cases. The proposal is made without an impact assessment and is absolutely disproportionate to the stated objective of the omnibus exercise to ‘simplify’ regulation, while it clashes with the announced objective of maintaining a high level of protection.
The proposal undermines the primary purpose of the regulation, which is to ensure a high level of protection based on the precautionary principle. If implemented as currently drafted, the changes would represent a serious step backwards for pesticide regulation in the EU, potentially allowing hazardous substances to remain in use indefinitely. It would also run counter to citizens’ consistent and long-standing demands for stricter pesticide regulation and phase out of synthetic pesticides.
