France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden agree to jointly assess glyphosate
The European Commission is proposing that France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden jointly form the Rapporteur Member State (RMS) for the renewal of the glyphosate approval.
For active substances for which very extensive dossiers are expected, such as glyphosate, the European Commission is proposing that the renewal rules should provide for the possibility that a group of Member States jointly undertakes the role of the RMS instead of a single RMS. This requires amendments to the Implementing Regulation (EU) No 844/2012, laying down the procedure for renewal of active substances used in plant protection products. The proposed amendment and the formal attribution of glyphosate to a group of Member States will be discussed at the upcoming meeting for the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) on 21-22 March 2019. France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden have agreed to be part of the group that will act jointly as a single RMS. The group made up of these four Member States will assess the dossier and submit a single draft assessment report to the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) in 2021. The group will be named the Assessment Group on Glyphosate (AGG).
In December 2017, the approval of the active substance glyphosate was renewed for five years. This approval period, which is shorter than usual, will expire in 2022. The process for a subsequent renewal will therefore begin in December 2019. The application for renewal of the substance approval for glyphosate must be submitted by the applicant(s) no later than 15 December 2019. The full application dossier to be assessed must be submitted by the applicant(s) by June 2020, on which the AGG will base its work.
Further and updated information (also on the assessment process) can be found at the European Commission website.