France: Public consultation on the New Order for plant protection products use

On 6 July 2016, the French Council of State had asked to the Ministry of Agriculture to repeal the Order of 12 September 2006 concerning the placing on the market and the use of plant protection products within six months for procedural grounds. Indeed, the French Council of State had concluded that some provisions of the text should have been notified to the European Commission and to other Member States.

The present draft Order aims at updating the provisions of the Order of 12 September 2006. It thus sets the maximum wind speed beyond which products cannot be applied, the pre-harvest intervals (PHI) and the re-entry intervals for agricultural workers after application. The draft Order also sets provisions in order to prevent point source pollution from pesticide effluents, in particular from land application and draining. In addition, the draft Order includes provisions aiming at preventing water contamination from drift or from runoff.

After many developments, this draft brings finally only few modifications compared with the text of 2006. In order to implement the Council of State decision as early as possible, the French authorities had indeed indicated their intention, as a protective measure, to notify the current provisions of the Decree of 12 September 2006 to the European Commission.

The main change set by the draft Order deals with re-entry intervals after application. The list of products with a re-entry interval of 48 hours has been expanded to products having CMR hazard statements (carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction). However, in the case of a « motivated, not expected and not predictable or imperative need », these intervals can be reduced to 6 or 8 hours provided personal protective equipment (PPE) required for the application phase is worn, or provided a tractor with a cab equipped with an active carbon filter (if such filter is required for the application phase) is used.

The draft Order is submitted to public consultation from 13 January till 3 February 2017 included.

To download:

Draft decree repealing Decree from 12 September 2006 (in French)

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