EUROPE – EFSA: Public consultation on the draft protocol for the evaluation of emergency authorisations of herbicides, soil fumigants, nematicides, and other PPPs under Article 53
25 September 2026
A new version of the SWAN model (v5.3), used to incorporate spray drift and runoff mitigation measures for refined surface water exposure calculations (FOCUS Step 4), was released online in late September.
This version introduces various improvements and fixes, and includes a revised modelling configuration for runoff mitigation measures using the VFSMOD module.
The main updates of version 5.3 are:
- Update of VFSMOD to version 4.5.2, representing a major revision of the VFSMOD configuration and enabling significant runtime reductions depending on project and system configuration;
- Improved reliability, performance, and user interface, notably through the migration to .NET 8;
- Enhanced ‘batch mode’ allowing multiple Step 4 calculations in parallel.
Several limitations in the use of VFSMOD persist in this version, particularly for certain events involving very wide buffer zones and very low runoff (this issue is expected to be resolved with a future VFSMOD update), as well as for projects involving multiple soil metabolites.
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