Regulation 1107/2009 introduced a zonal system, encouraging cooperation and worksharing between Member States.
Applications for new authorisations, major amendments to existing authorisations, extending the scope of the authorisation and extending the authorisation period must be submitted according to the zonal procedure. One Member State shall act as zonal rapporteur (zRMS); this Member State assesses the application on behalf of all Member States for which the application is intended (the concerned Member States or cMS).
The zonal process consists of a zRMS part and a cMS part, that strongly intertwined act together. For information on this process of zonal application and assessment see zonal application Netherlands Rapporteur Member State (NL=zRMS).
Realignment of policy on mutual recognition and CMS applications
In 2025, the mutual recognition policy and CMS applications were realigned. Effective January 1, 2026, the Ctgb will no longer actively monitor the core assessment for completeness and accuracy when processing national elements of the application. Our guiding principle here is "accept, unless." This approach will lead to faster and more consistent decisions. See our policy Realignment of policy on mutual recognition and CMS applications.
Temporary continuation repair cropcycli CMS
With the realignment of the policy for CMS and mutual recognition, a national repair of the number of crop cycles is no longer planned. We note that crop cycles are not always completely included in the GAPs. For mutual recognitions, from January 1st, 2026 it will no longer be possible to apply for a broader GAP than the permitted GAP in the reference country. For CMS applications, we request that applicants ensure that crop cycles are included in the GAP to be assessed and insist that they also be included as such in the core assessment. If this does not lead to an assessment of the entire GAP by the ZRMS, we will continue to make adjustments in these exceptional cases for the time being. If agreements are reached on a harmonised working method, we will discontinue this practice.