EU amends the conditions of approval for citronella oil

The European Commission recently announced to amend the conditions of approval of the herbicide, citronella oil. If necessary, existing product authorisations have to be amended by 5 December 2014.

When approving products, EU member states are required to consider risk mitigation measures to protect operators, workers, bystanders, residents, ground water and non-target organisms.

The notifier, UK company Barrier Biotech, shall submit confirmatory information by 30 April 2016 as regards: the technical specification; data comparing natural background exposure situations of plant oils/citronella oil and methyl eugenol and methyl isoeugenol in relation to exposure from the use of plant oils/citronella oil as a plant protection product. This data shall cover human exposure as well as exposure of non-target organisms; the groundwater exposure assessment for potential metabolites of plant oils/citronella oil, in particular for methyl eugenol and methyl isoeugenol. Citronella oil was formally approved on 1 September 2009 and will expire on 31 August 2019.