Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 781/2013Show full title

ANNEX Amendments to the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011

The column ‘Specific provisions’ of row 157, fipronil, of Part A of the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 is replaced by the following:

‘PART A

Only uses as insecticide for use as seed treatment may be authorised. Uses shall only be authorised for seeds intended to be sown in greenhouses and seeds of leek, onions, shallots and the group of Brassica vegetables intended to be sown in fields and harvested before flowering.

PART B

For the implementation of the uniform principles as referred to in Article 29(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, the conclusions of the review report on fipronil, and in particular Appendices I and II thereof, as finalised in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 15 March 2007 and the conclusions of the addendum of the review report on fipronil as finalised in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 16 July 2013 shall be taken into account.

In this overall assessment Member States shall pay particular attention to:

(a)

the packaging of the marketed products to avoid the generation of photodegradation products of concern;

(b)

the potential for groundwater contamination, especially from metabolites which are more persistent than the parent compound, when the active substance is applied in regions with vulnerable soil and/or climatic conditions;

(c)

the protection of granivorous birds and mammals, aquatic organisms, non-target arthropods and honey bees.

Member States shall also ensure that:

(a)

the seed coating shall only be performed in professional seed treatment facilities; those facilities shall apply the best available techniques in order to ensure that the release of dust during application to the seed, storage, and transport can be minimised;

(b)

adequate seed drilling equipment shall be used to ensure a high degree of incorporation in soil, minimisation of spillage and minimisation of dust emission;

(c)

the label of the treated seeds shall include the indication that the seeds were treated with fipronil and sets out the risk mitigation measures provided for in the authorisation;

(d)

monitoring programmes shall be initiated to verify the real exposure of bees to fipronil in areas extensively used by bees for foraging or by beekeepers, where and as appropriate.

Conditions of use shall include risk mitigation measures, where appropriate.

The notifier shall submit confirmatory information as regards:

(a)

the risk to pollinators other than honey bees;

(b)

the acute and long-term risk to colony survival and development, and the risk to bee brood from plant and soil metabolites, except the soil photolysis metabolites;

(c)

the potential exposure to dust drift emitted during the drilling procedure and the acute and long-term risk to colony survival and development, and the risk to bee brood for situations where bees forage on vegetation exposed to dust drift;

(d)

the acute and long-term risk to colony survival and development, and the risk to bee brood from foraging on insect honeydew;

(e)

the potential exposure to guttation fluid and the acute and long-term risk to colony survival and development, and the risk to bee brood;

(f)

the potential exposure to residues in nectar and pollen, honeydew and guttation fluid of succeeding crops or weeds occurring in fields, including the persistent soil metabolites (RPA 200766, MB 46136 and MB 45950).

The notifier shall submit that information to the Commission, the Member States and the Authority by 30 March 2015.’