In January the EU Court of Justice presented a very clear ruling on pesticide derogations. Approval to use banned pesticides can only be given in very special and unforeseen circumstances. Health and the environment go before plant protection. As a result of this ruling, some countries withdrew derogations that allowed the use of highly dangerous pesticides. However, others did not. Six months after the ruling, the European Commission has still not officially published an official reaction. Following this absence of reaction from the European Commission, a series of Member States keep issuing derogations for EU-banned pesticides. Since the beginning of the year, PAN Europe has identified that, from the derogations disclosed on the Commission database, no less than 29 derogations for EU-banned pesticides have been provided by 14 EU countries. The European Commission does not ensure that the rule of law is respected in the EU.
These pesticides are highly toxic to human health, like diquat or 1,3-dichloropropene as well as substances highly toxic to the environment such as neonicotinoids. The non-respect of the ruling in these Member States puts citizens’ health and the environment at risk. It also prevents farmers in the EU to work in a level playing field.
We highlight this scandal in Letter to the EU Commission, on July 19th, 2023.
Groundbreaking EU Court ruling should stop all highly toxic pesticide derogations – now
