Sustainable Use of Pesticides: Updates on the Directive 2009/128/EC

The European Parliament has actively monitored the implementation of the legal framework of Directive 2009/128/EC which specifically regulates the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUDP).

Timelines

On 22 June 2022, the European Commission submitted a proposal to revise the SUDP. This submission was initially scheduled for 23 March 2022, has been delayed, reportedly, due to Russia's war on Ukraine.

This proposal is part of a package of legislation on nature conservation that also includes a proposal for legally binding nature restoration rules. As part of the European Green Deal, both proposals are related to farm to fork, biodiversity, and zero pollution.

Updates: Member states shall take necessary actions on-

• Pesticide reduction has never been an official policy objective of the SUD.

• Encourage the development and introduction of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and of alternative approaches or techniques to reduce dependency on the use of pesticides.

• To ensure that the use of pesticides is reduced or banned in specific areas such as playgrounds, public parks, sports fields, or close to healthcare facilities.

• Ban the spraying of pesticides by air.

• Specifically, safeguard drinking water from the effects of pesticides in water.

• Develop programmes to raise public awareness of the potential dangers associated with the usage of pesticides.

European Court of Auditors Recommendations

To ensure compliance with the SUDP requirements, the European Commission conducts audits in the Member States (MSs).

1. The Commission should make sure the MSs have converted the general principles of IPM into practical and measurable criteria, (verified on farms by 2022), and incorporate these measurable IPM criteria into the 'conditionality' of the post-2020 common agricultural policy (CAP). 

2. By 2023, the Commission must address the following to improve statistics and environmental monitoring: First, the restrictive aggregation requirements for Plant Protection Product (PPP) statistics should be removed so that more useful statistics can be published (such as low-risk PPPs and active substances with specific properties), and second, the EU statistics on agricultural use of PPPs should be clarified, improved and harmonised to make them more useful, comparable and accessible. 

3. The Commission should develop new (harmonised risk indicators) HRIs, or improve the existing ones, by 2023.