41^st Meeting of the Working Party on Plant Protection Products

Dublin, 2011-06-24/26

The 41^st Meeting of the Working Party on Plant Protection Products took place in Dublin, Ireland on 24-26 May 2011, at the kind invitation of the Pesticide Registration and Control Division (PRCD), Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF). There were 24 participants from 17 EPPO countries and ECPA.

Special thanks are due to Messrs Dermot Sheridan (Head of PRCD), and Mr Tom O’Flaherty, who together with their colleagues Messrs James Caplis, James Quirke, Jim Garvey and Finbar O’Regan from the Institute, provided excellent organizational support and arranged a most interesting technical visit. The participants enjoyed the visit to the leading Irish mushroom producing company which was very fitting with respect to the recently approved EPPO Standard PP1/270 Fungal diseases on cultivated mushroom of Agaricus spp. on which many of the Panel experts had studied.

This EPPO Working Party directs and supervises the technical work of many EPPO Panels concerned with the registration of plant protection products. The report of the meeting prepared for the EPPO Council and Executive Committee presents in greater detail the discussions, decisions and recommendations which were made by the Working Party; some of major points are summarized here.

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EPPO Standards for approval

The Working Party on Plant Protection Products continues to approve a steady flow of new or revised EPPO Standards in series PP1 Efficacy Evaluation of Plant Protection Products. A total of 13 specific standards and 1 general standard in the series PP1 are to be submitted to the Executive Committee and Council of EPPO in September 2011 for definitive approval and publication.

Anthracnose on olive (revision PP 1/67)
Cycloconium oleaginum (revision PP 1/81)
Foliar diseases of maize (new)
Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato causing bacterial speck and Xanthomonas spp. causing bacterial scab and leaf spot of tomato (new)
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera- larvae (revision PP1/212)
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera- adults (new)
Tuta absoluta (new)
Weeds in outdoor fruit vegetables (revision PP 1/118)
Weeds in hop (revision PP 1/139)
Reduction of lodging in water-seeded rice (revision PP 1/145)
Control of suckers in grapevine (revision PP 1/161)
Dwarfing of ornamental trees and shrubs (revision PP1/183)
Rooting of cuttings (revision PP1/186)
Guidance on Comparative Assessment (new general standard)

The Working Party acknowledged the progress made on draft guidelines on Principles of efficacy evaluation for microbial plant protection products and Insecticide Mixtures: Justification for use and implications for resistance management. These will be forwarded to the relevant technical Panels for further work.

Another paper was considered on Resistance Management in Europe: a preliminary proposal for the determination of a minimum number of active substances necessary to manage resistance. It was felt that this paper should be further addressed by the Panel on Resistance in September and if agreed, it could be published as a paper in the EPPO Bulletin.

Zonal efficacy evaluation

With the entry into force of the new EU Regulation 1107/2009 (on 2011-06-14), much of the discussions focused on the recent outcomes of the EPPO Workshop on Zonal Efficacy Assessments (LINK). A new draft EPPO Standard based on these recommendations, ‘Principles of zonal data production and evaluation’, was addressed by the Working Party. With the need for information on this topic as high priority, it was agreed that the draft EPPO Standard will be added to the EPPO website as a ‘working document’, and in the meantime, the Panels will review the guideline with the aim of presenting it to the EPPO Council as a Standard in 2012.

Extrapolation tables for minor uses

The work on preparation of the extrapolation tables for minor uses continues. The extrapolation tables should be used in conjunction with EPPO Standard PP 1/257 Efficacy and crop safety extrapolations for minor uses. The tables provide detailed lists of acceptable extrapolations organized by crop groups for regulatory authorities and applicants in the context of the registration of plant protection products for minor uses. A total of 8 new tables were approved which will be shortly available on the EPPO website:

Herbicides

Grass seed crops – effectiveness
Grass seed crops – crop safety
Umbelliferous crops – effectiveness
Umbelliferous crops – crop safety
Peas and beans – effectiveness
Peas and beans – crop safety

Fungicides

Cucurbitaceae – effectiveness

Insecticides

Cucurbitaceae – effectiveness

Programme of activity

The Working Party discussed its future activities with regard to the present high demand for EPPO activities in zonal evaluation; proposals for new Standards and amendments to existing Standards to address the new EC Regulation; minor uses including extrapolation; and the elaboration of EPPO Codes for group and pest groups to assist PPP databases. It was agreed that the issues of resources and priorities should be considered by the EPPO Council in September 2011.