EU changes to cost Portugal half its agchems

Portuguese agriculture would lose half of its pesticide active ingredients if the EU Parliament’s amendments were adopted for agrochemical registrations, the country’s agrochemical industry association, the ANIPLA, says. The Parliament’s Environment Committee reintroduced in November its bid to impose tougher restrictions on pesticides ( Agrow No 556, p 11). That includes adding more hazard-based cut-off criteria to the revised agrochemical registration Directive (91/414) than the common position of the Commission and EU Agriculture Ministers. Parliament will vote on the recommendations at the second reading in January.