In June 2022, the European Commission adopted proposals for a new Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products, which includes the new Sustainable Use of Pesticide Regulation (SUR). This SUR regulation could be the first step towards an effective and coherent pesticide reduction policy in the EU.

The regulation involves EU-wide targets to reduce by 50% the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030, in line with the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. New measures will ensure that all farmers and other professional pesticide users practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This is an environmentally friendly system of pest control which focuses on pest prevention and prioritises alternative pest control methods, with chemical pesticides only used as a last resort.

However, these plans have not been popular among some Member States, who officially requested a further impact assessment from the European Commission on 27 December. The Commission has to submit the necessary data at the latest six months after the request came into force. There are concerns that this could potentially delay or derail moving ahead with the regulation’s ambitions.

In contrast, a recent European Parliament report pushes to increase the Commission’s 50% reduction target to 80% by 2030 for “the use of more hazardous plant protection products”. This would move the legislation closer to the demands of a recent citizens’ initiative, ‘Save bees and farmers’, which had called to aim for a general reduction of synthetic pesticides by 80%.

Relisten to this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to learn about the proposals for a new Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products.
-Are these proposals comprehensive enough to reduce the bloc’s environmental footprint?
-Is a 50% reduction in the use and risk of pesticides a feasible target for Member States to achieve?

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.