Legal Obligations
On 15 May 2019, Commission Directive (EU) 2019/782 establishing harmonised risk indicators to estimate the trends in risk from pesticide use was adopted. This Commission Directive establishes Harmonised Risk Indicators as referred to in Article 15 (1) of Directive 2009/128/EC.
The European Commission is obliged to calculate Harmonised Risk Indicators at Community level and to make the results available to the public under Article 15(4) of Directive 2009/128/EC.
Member States are obliged to:
- calculate the Harmonised Risk Indicators under Article 15(2)(a) of Directive 2009/128/EC.
- identify trends in the use of certain active substances under Article 15(2)(b) of Directive 2009/128/EC
- identify priority items, such as active substances, crops, regions, or practices that require particular attention, or good practices that can be used as examples in order to achieve the objectives of the Directive under Article 15(2)(c) of Directive 2009/128/EC.
- communicate the results of these evaluations to the Commission and to other Member States and to make this information available to the public under Article 15(3) of Directive 2009/128/EC.
Both the European Commission and Member States must complete these tasks for each calendar year and at the latest, 20 months after the end of the relevant year in line with Section 2, Article 7 and Section 3, Article 6 of Commission Directive (EU) 2019/782. For example, by 31 August 2024 for 2022's tasks.
Guidance
The Commission, in collaboration with Member States, has developed a Methodological Guide to assist Member States to calculate Harmonised Risk Indicators, which is publicly available here.
Future plans
Work is ongoing by the Commission services to assess options for improving these indicators and/or to develop new ones, to better estimate the trends in the risk and use of plant protection products.