On 8.10.20, the Court of Justice of the European Union finally recognized the possibility for member states to ban on their territories the use of EU-authorized pesticides. (1)
But the battle of civility over neonicotinoids continues. In France, where litigation had ensued and beet growers later obtained an exemption from the ban. And across the old continent, where the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save the Bees and Farmers‘ still needs signatures from all of us.
Neonicotinoid pesticides, the casus belli
On 5/27/18 , the European Commission, as noted, banned the use in open fields-not also in greenhouses-of three neonicotinoids, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. (2) Based on scientific assessments by EFSA(European Food Safety Authority), which ascertained the serious risks caused by these insecticides to the health of pollinating insects and the ecosystem.
On 7/30/18, however, the French government went further. It brought forward to 1.9.18 (with the possibility of exceptions until 1.7.20) the ban on the use of the above three poisons and seeds treated with them. And it extended the ban to two other neonics, acetamiprid and thiacloprid. (3) Thus triggering the reaction of the Big 4, who are always busy soiling populations and ecosystems with their cocktail of poisons.
Big 4 vs. French government
UIPP(Union des industries de la protection des plantes), the lobby representing the pesticide and seed monopolists in France-the infamous Big 4-has therefore filed an administrative appeal against the Paris government. To obtain the annulment of the above decree. And the French Council of State referred a question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling.
The issue concerns the possibility for member states to arrive at a ban on the use of agrotoxics when the conditions set for taking so-called ’emergency measures’ are met. That is, when ‘there is a clear likelihood that an approved active substance, agronomic antidote, synergist, or co-formulant, or an approved plant protection product‘ in EU ‘pose a serious risk to human or animal health or the environment, and where such risk cannot be contained, satisfactorily, by measures‘ of lower intensity. (4)
Justice to the Court
Justice was done by the eponymous European Court. The latter pointed out that the procedure established in the regulation on so-called ‘plant protection products’ has the precise ‘purpose of allowing the adoption by the Commission, or failing that by a member state, of emergency measures regulating the use or sale of certain substances or products where such measures appear necessary to protect human or animal health or the environment‘. (1)
The Luxembourg judges also clarified how these types of measures can be legitimately notified to Brussels under EU dir. 2015/1535. Just as the French government did. This directive, whose origins date back to 1983 (dir. 83/189/EEC), regulates the prior notification of all national technical regulations on goods and services. (5) And is therefore also suitable for the purpose of taking emergency measures.
Assemblée nationale in reverse gear
On 6.10.20 , however, theAssemblée nationale, the Paris Chamber of Deputies, inserted the reverse gear on the ban on the use of neonicotinoids introduced two years earlier. Approving government proposal 3.9.20, to introduce an exemption on sugar beet crops, where seeds treated with the pesticides in question may be used until 1.7.23.
Paradoxically, French beet growers will be able to continue until the 2023 sugar marketing year the use of neonicotinoids that will have meanwhile been banned in the EU. (2) Thus practicing – with the endorsement of French institutions – unfair competition against beet growers in other member states. In defiance of the health and environmental protection demands advocated by civil society.
Neonicotinoids, a battle of civilization
Neonicotinoids-a class of pesticides similar in chemical composition to nicotine that are severely toxic to the central nervous system of insects (and others)-are at the center of a civilizational battle that goes far beyond the litigation under review. Poison lobbies, in addition to having financed numerous scientific frauds, continue to carry out viral deceptions about their improbable harmlessness to the environment and biodiversity. In the US and EU, as well as in Italy.
Moreover, the use of neonics in agriculture has been associated recognized concluded the correlation between their use and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the first cause of the ongoing genocide of pollinating insects. Therefore, it is imperative to successfully pursue the collection of signatures on the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save the Bees,‘ whose deadline expires on 3/31/21.
SIGN HERE.
, please.
Dario Dongo and Gioele Luchese
Cover image: Agir pour l’Environment, une association de mobilisation citoyenne nationale en faveur de l’environnement
Notes
(1) European Court of Justice (ECJ). Case C-514/19, Union des industries de la protection des plantes v. Premier ministre et al. Judgment 8.10.20, at http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=E1E69A59A846E086E7D7C5152772CA0B?text=&docid=232150&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=12796875
(2) Reg. EU 2018/783, 784, 785
(3) Thus, the loi biodiversité (loi 1087/16, and the code rural et de la pêche maritime(loi 1170/14, Article 253.8.1) were updated
(4) Reg. EC 1107/2009, as amended, concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, Articles 69 and 71. Consolidated text at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02009R1107-20191214
(5) EU Dir. 2015/1535, on the information procedure in the field of technical regulations.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law from the University of Turin, he attended the Advanced Training Course in Food Law (CAFLA) at the University of Piemonte Orientale
