31 October 2002
The EU Pesticide Review and Product Withdrawals
Background
You will know from PSD’s All Approval Holders Letter 18 of 12 August 2002 that there will be a major withdrawal of pesticide products next year as a result of the EU review programme.
Forty-five active substances currently approved by PSD were not supported in stages 2 and 3 of the review. Certain uses of 14 of these substances will continue until 2007 because they are covered by an "essential use" derogation as explained in the previous letter.
However, products containing the other 31 substances are being withdrawn.
The key dates are:
- 24 July 2003 – last day for sale by any person;
- 31 December 2003 – last day for use;
- 31 March 2004 – last day for storage (for disposal purposes only).
The Commission has yet to decide when Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) for withdrawn active substances will be reduced to the limit of determination in line with its usual practice.
A list of around 130 professional and 80 amateur products, which will be completely withdrawn, has now been placed on the PSD website (see Products with unsupported active substances [List removed since no longer relevant -July 2009]). The website also provides details of those products affected by the essential use derogations. Official Notices revoking those products affected will soon be issued to the relevant approval holders only. Off Label approvals for essential and non-essential uses will expire in line with the above mentioned revocation dates. There are implications for some products under the Long Term Arrangements for Extension of Use (LTAEU), which have been specified in the appropriate Explanatory Notes section on the notices.
Professional products
PSD is keen to ensure that surplus stocks of withdrawn products do not remain on farms after 31 December 2003. These would represent a high risk of illegal use or inappropriate disposal. Manufacturers and distributors should therefore exercise restraint in selling on stocks of the products involved and, at the least, make sure purchasers are aware of the situation and that they will be able to use stocks before the deadline.
We are inviting the farming press and some of the key trade organisations to help publicise the "don’t purchase what you can’t use" message this autumn. Any assistance that other recipients of this letter can provide in alerting farmers, growers and gardeners to the withdrawals will be much appreciated. We believe that it is important to the UK farming industry that these product withdrawals are managed responsibly.
The Crop Protection Association (CPA) is hoping to establish a retrieval scheme for unused pesticides as part of its "Voluntary Initiative". This is likely to operate between 1 November 2003 and 31 March 2004 to help with the withdrawals from rounds 2 and 3 of the EU review. However, farmers will be expected to pay retrieval costs and it is clearly much better if there are no stocks left on farm by the end of December next year. Details of the scheme should be made available in the New Year.
Amateur products
The CPA is aiming to remove products from the distribution chain. Details of this scheme will be provided by the CPA to those involved in due course.
Who to Contact
If you have any queries concerning issues addressed in this letter please contact Debbie Hussey by telephoning 01904 455769, by fax 01904 455733, by email to debbie.hussey@hse.gsi.gov.uk or in writing.
If you have any queries concerning the list of products to be revoked, or if approval holders have any queries on the revocation notices, please contact Rachel Brown by telephoning him on 01904 455719, by fax 01904 455722, by email to rachel.brown@hse.gsi.gov.uk or in writing.
