The EU Council approves simplifying pesticide regulations and facilitates drone usage

Brussels – Sustainable use of pesticides, registration of farm animals, and the use of plastic in the food industry. These are the elements of the “Omnibus X” package on which the Member States of the European Union have reached agreement today (27 May) by adopting their position at the EU Council. Part of the European Commission’s simplification agenda, Omnibus X aims to simplify rules and procedures across EU legislation, from plant protection products and biocides to animal feed, official controls, and animal health and welfare. It proposes to reduce unnecessary costs and administrative burdens, “while maintaining the EU’s high standards on food and feed safety, the protection of human and animal health, and environmental protection.”

As regards pesticides, the current Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD) prohibits aerial spraying, but allows Member States to grant derogations, albeit at a high administrative cost to professional users and the competent authorities. The amendments proposed by the Council to the SUD aim to facilitate the use of drones for targeted pesticide spraying, which, for EU countries, “may present a risk equivalent to or even lower than that of
land-based pesticide applications.“ 

In this context, the Council’s mandate retains the existing derogation and adds a further one for certain types of drones, even if the conditions for special cases are not met. The text of the Council mandate includes new wording clarifying that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) mandate will cover both the risk assessment of plant protection products (PPPs) that can be sprayed using drones and the types of drones, their conditions of use, and the associated risks. It provides for a period of 30 months for the adoption of the delegated act identifying the types of drones that may be used for the spraying of PPPs; furthermore, for aerial spraying using vehicles other than certain types of drones, subject to the approval of an application plan, Member States will have the option to derogate from the obligation to obtain separate approval for individual PPP applications, which has hitherto been mandatory. The text also includes transitional measures allowing Member States to authorise the use of drones until the adoption of the delegated act, provided that the conditions in force for aerial spraying are met and that the Commission and EFSA are informed within 30 days of Member States granting authorisation for the use of drones, together with the risk assessment on the basis of which the authorisation was granted. 

The Directive on the protection of farm animals requires farmers to keep records of the medicinal treatments administered to animals and the number of deaths.
However, similar record-keeping is required by the regulation on veterinary medicinal products and by the regulation on animal health (‘Animal Health Law’), respectively. The Council amendment eliminates this duplication.

Finally, the Council proposes to repeal two directives from 1982 and 1985 governing plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, as these matters are now covered by a 2011 EU regulation. 

Following the swift adoption of the Council’s mandate on the proposed regulation on the protection of data relating to biocidal products on 4 March and the formal adoption of the regulation on 11 May, the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU has continued work on the other two proposals in the package. In essence, Member States have retained the main thrust of the Commission’s proposal, but have made amendments that would further accelerate the implementation of the relevant directives, namely Directive 2009/128/CE for the sustainable use of pesticides, Directive 98/58/EC on animals kept for farming purposes, and the directives on basic standards for plastics. The Council Presidency will now continue work on the last remaining proposal in the Omnibus, with the aim of reaching a swift agreement on a general Council mandate for negotiations with the Parliament on the entire package.