NFU to speak in pesticide import case

22 May 2001



NFU to speak in pesticide import case

By FWi staff

FARMERS representatives have the opportunity to put over their views in a legal case on criteria judging cheaper overseas crop protection.

The National Farmers Union has won Court of Appeal permission to intervene in the case between the Crop Protection Association and the Ministry of Agriculture.

This will consider the criteria for judging whether foreign pesticides are “equivalent” to British ones.

Products that are deemed to be equivalent are subject to the fast-track UK approval process.

But the CPA is seeking to tighten the criteria so that not only active ingredients but also the formulation must be identical to the UK products.

The CPA says if a product is formulated differently to meet foreign conditions, it could damage UK crops if the sprayer is not aware of these differences.

The NFU intends to argue against this, saying the current criteria for judging equivalence are already too rigid and a barrier to free trade.

MAFF is already resisting the CPAs move.

NFU technical services committee chairman Marcus Themans said: “We believe that the current controls are already unnecessarily restrictive.

“Any further tightening would be unfair, especially at a time when farmers can ill afford it.

The NFU made a formal application to intervene as part of its Costbusting campaign to help farmers squeeze every last drop of income from their businesses.

The case is expected to be heard within the next nine weeks.

• Import doors open, FWi, 17 November, 2000
• Parallel import pesticides get Europe all-clear, FWi, 30 April, 1999
  

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