6^th Meeting of the Panel on General Standards on Efficacy Evaluation

Dublin, 2006-03-01/02

The 6^th meeting of the Panel on General Standards took place at the Pesticide Control Service of the Department of Agriculture and Food, which is now located on the Backweston Campus near Celbridge, about 15 km west of Dublin. Warm thanks are due to Mr Tom O’Flaherty for his fine organization of this meeting.

The emphasis was put on finalizing the revision of the Standards PP 1/152 Design and analysis of efficacy evaluation trials and PP 1/135 Phytotoxicity assessment. Those two, together with a new standard on Harmonized classification and coding of the uses of plant protection products will be sent to EPPO member countries for comment. If no major objections arise, they will be presented to the Working Party on Plant Protection Products for approval.

The Panel also studied two general standards prepared by the Panel on Efficacy Evaluation of Herbicides and PGRs: a new Standard on the Effects of plant protection products on adjacent crops and the revised Standard PP 1/207 Effects on succeeding crops. The Panel was also informed about the report entitled “Proposals for extending and harmonizing efficacy and crop safety extrapolations to reduce the need for efficacy trials on minor uses”, which was produced by the UK Pesticide Safety Directorate under the European Commission contract.