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Food Safety

Authorisation of Plant Protection Products

Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 is the legislation concerning the placing of plant protection products (PPPs) on the market in the European Union.

PPPs (also referred to as 'pesticides') are products in the form in which they are supplied to the user, consisting of, or containing active substances, safeners or synergists, and intended for one of the following uses:

  • protecting plants or plant products against all harmful organisms or preventing the action of such organisms, unless the main purpose of these products is considered to be for reasons of hygiene rather than for the protection of plants or plant products (e.g. fungicides, insecticides);
  • influencing the life processes of plants, such as substances influencing their growth, other than as a nutrient (e.g. plant growth regulators, rooting hormones);
  • preserving plant products, in so far as such substances or products are not subject to special Community provisions on preservatives (e.g. extending the life of cut flowers);
  • destroying undesired plants or parts of plants, except algae unless the products are applied on soil or water to protect plants (e.g. herbicides/weedkillers to kill actively growing weeds);
  • checking or preventing undesired growth of plants, except algae unless the products are applied on soil or water to protect plants (e.g. herbicides/weedkillers preventing the growth of weeds).

PPPs contain at least one approved active substance (See the 'Approval of active substances' page for the approval procedure); these may include micro-organisms, pheromones and botanical extracts.

Before any PPP can be placed on the market or used, it must be authorised in the EU country concerned. Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 lays down the rules and procedures for authorisation of PPPs.

Information on the application procedure.

The controls of the use and placing on the market of PPPs are performed by EU countries. For information about the trade of illegal and counterfeit pesticides you can consult the study on this topic.

Emergency authorisation of plant protection products

Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 allows Member States to authorise the placing on the market of plant protection products, in special circumstances and derogating from the regular authorisation process, for a period not exceeding 120 days and for limited and controlled use, where such a measure is necessary because of a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means.

The EU Pesticides Database provides details about emergency authorisations granted by Member States. The information provided does not constitute a complete legal authorisation – Member States are fully responsible for granting emergency authorisations. The information provided is the sole responsibility of Member States and therefore any questions related to specific authorisations should be addressed directly to the relevant Member State competent authority.

Applications for emergency authorisation of a plant protection product should be submitted to Member States via the ESFC. Further information about setting up access to ESFC for submitting emergency authorisations can be found here. All applications and resulting authorisations submitted via PPPAMS will be migrated to ESFC.

Related links

Further information