MEPs call for industry agchem sales data

Proposals for harmonising EU agrochemical statistics should be extended to require the collection of production and sales data from the industry, rather than just usage data from farmers, says the European Parliament. The call came as MEPs voted through amendments in March to the European Commission's proposed regulation on agrochemical statistics, which will form part of the planned EU thematic strategy on sustainable pesticide use.

The Parliament adopted amendments recommended by its Environment Committee that data should be collected from pesticide producers, traders and importers on annual amounts of pesticides produced and sold. The Environment Committee, which is taking lead responsibility in the parliamentary discussions, gained support for this stance from the Parliament's Agriculture Committee last year. Agriculture MEPs were concerned at the potential administrative burden placed on farmers by the Commission's original proposal.

The amendments call for pesticide producers, suppliers and importers to report annually on quantities of active ingredients and products manufactured, supplied to formulators and wholesalers in the EU, and exported. The competent authorities should edit the data where necessary to preserve confidentiality, the Parliament says.

The Parliament also voted through amendments that would extend the statistics to include non-agricultural pesticides covered by the EU biocidal products Directive (98/8). Another amendment to the text of the proposal stipulates that the data collected should cover agricultural, horticultural and professional non-agricultural use of pesticides, such as use in communal green areas, and road or railway maintenance.

However, the Commission has already argued against including biocides in the proposed regulation. In a working document issued earlier this year, it said that member states need to gain more experience with implementing the "relatively new" biocides Directive. Instead, the Commission suggested that pilot studies on biocide statistics could be carried out on a voluntary basis.

In addition to improving the quality of pesticide information across the EU, the Commission aims to use the statistic to evaluate the implementation of EU legislation. In particular, it seeks to assess whether the strategy on sustainable pesticide use achieves its goal to reduce the environmental and health impact of pesticides. The Parliament voted to add clauses to the text that specify these aims. The clauses stipulate that member states should use the data to evaluate the effectiveness of their national action plans on sustainable pesticide use and publish the results. In addition, the statistics should be used to develop harmonised national and EU risk indicators.

MEPs also want the statistics to be used to record ai flows at the stages of production, trade and use. A further amendment stresses that data collection for individual ais must be updated regularly to take account of the ongoing EU review of existing ais.

Elsewhere, the Parliament voted to include a requirement for the Commission to evaluate the quality and comparability of data supplied by member states, the burden on agricultural and horticultural holdings and other businesses, and the usefulness of the statistics. If required, the Commission should develop further proposals to improve data quality and reduce the administrative burden.