European Commission proposes to restrict the conditions of approval of sulfoxaflor

In November 2021, the European Commission notified the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade of its intention to restrict the conditions of approval of the active substance sulfoxaflor. Sulfoxaflor is a systemic insecticide which was approved as active substance for use in plant protection products in 2015, on condition that confirmatory information was provided by its authorization holder (i.e. Corteva Agroscience) regarding risks for bees. Following EFSA’s conclusions of 2019 and 2020, the European Commission has found that the information submitted fails to demonstrate the absence of such risks and hence it has proposed to restrict the conditions of approval to uses in permanent greenhouses only. The European Commission’s proposal is now being discussed with EU Member States in the Standing Committee on Pesticides, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee). It is important to underline that, should the decision on restriction of approval be endorsed, the European Commission may also put forward a separate action on Maximum Residue Levels. For further information, please follow this link.