Firms contest bid to phase out pesticides

Date: 07/03/02

By Laurence Frost

THREE agrochemical firms have launched a landmark legal challenge in the European Court of Justice against a decision to list their pesticides as 'priority substances' for a possible EU ban.

The firms are contesting a decision to list two pesticides - chloropyrifos and trifluralin - to be considered for phasing out under the 2000 Water Framework Directive.

They say the planned 'fast-track' assessment of the pesticides this year would prejudge the conclusion of a longer-term risk assessment already being carried out under the 1991 Plant Protection Products (PPP) Directive.

One of the firms, Dow Chemical's pesticides arm Dow AgroSciences, said the water directive decision would be 'out of alignment' with the longer-established EU policy.

'In order to protect our business, the only way open to us was to file for annulment of our two substances from the Council and Parliament decision,' said company spokesman Rocky Rowe. 'It's a matter of making sure that everyone has got all the right information to make the right scientific judgement.'

Dow AgroSciences filed the challenge last Wednesday (27 February) along with fellow crop-protection companies Finchimica and Makhteshim-Agan.

If successful, EU lawyers say the action could encourage more disgruntled industries to 'play off' conflicting Community legislation in court - with possible repercussions wherever 'horizontal' catch-all legislation coexists with sector-specific 'vertical' rules.

'What this measure does is bring the water directive in direct conflict with the pesticides legislation,' said a lawyer with firm McKenna & Cuneo, which is representing Dow AgroSciences.

According to the water directive itself, substances to be banned must be 'identified by a risk assessment conducted under the [PPP] Directive 91/414'.

The disputed fast-track 'hazard' evaluation is more likely to lead to a negative decision because it is based on the pesticides' intrinsic properties, whereas a full risk-assessment takes into account safety precautions required by law for their use.

A spokeswoman for Margot Wallström, the Environment Commissioner, dismissed the companies' legal challenge.

'These substances were selected on the basis of a risk assessment and significant risks have been identified,' said Pia Ahrenkilde.

'We have ensured there is consistency between the pesticide legislation and the water framework directive.'

Three agrochemical firms have launched a landmark legal challenge in the European Court of Justice against a decision to list their pesticides as 'priority substances' for a possible EU ban.