Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Commission statement, 25 November 2022
At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed held on 14 October 2022, Member States voted on a draft Commission Implementing Regulation proposing to extend the existing approval by one year in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. Although a clear majority of Member States supported the proposal, a qualified majority was not achieved and no opinion was reached. The Commission referred the draft Regulation to the Appeal Committee for further deliberation, which convened on 15 November 2022 . The Appeal Committee also did not deliver an opinion. The Commission is now bound to take a decision, in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, before 15 December 2022.
The extension of the approval is required due to delays incurred during the ongoing peer review process (see below for further information). The current planning by EFSA indicates that its conclusions on the peer review will be available in July 2023. Consequently, the assessment as to whether the approval criteria are expected to be fulfilled for glyphosate in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 is still ongoing, so that the renewal procedure cannot be concluded prior to the current expiry of the approval on 15 December 2022.
This extension is without prejudice to the decision on whether the approval of glyphosate can be renewed or not, which can only be taken once the scientific evaluation will have been completed.
Update (5 December 2022): Regulation published. See: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2364 of 2 December 2022 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 as regards the extension of the approval period of the active substance glyphosate (OJ L 312, 5.12.2022, page 99)
