50th Meeting of the Working Party on Plant Protection Products
Teleconference, 2020-06-15/16
The 50th Meeting of the Working Party on Plant Protection Products took place by videoconference, on 2020-06-15/16. The meeting of the Working Party was attended by 20 participants including 15 representatives from EPPO countries as well as a member of ECPA and a member of IBMA who attended as observers. This EPPO Working Party directs and supervises the technical work of the EPPO Panels concerned with the efficacy evaluation and registration of plant protection products. The major points from the meeting are summarized below.
EPPO Standards for approval
The Working Party on Plant Protection Products approved five new Standards in the series PP1 Efficacy Evaluation of Plant Protection Products: one General Standard and four Specific Standards. The Working Party also approved thirteen revised Standards in the same series, including eleven Specific and two General Standards. These Standards will be submitted to the EPPO Council in September 2020 for final approval and subsequent publication in the EPPO Bulletin:
New General Standard
General principles for Efficacy Evaluation of Plant Protection Products with a mode of action as Plant Defence Inducers (new)
New Specific Standards
Trioza erytreae on citrus (new)
Root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne sp.) in outdoor crops (new)
Root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne sp.) on fruiting vegetables in protected conditions (new)
Evaluation of mating disruption techniques against Lepidopteran pests in grapevine, pome and stone fruits under semi-field conditions (new)
Revised General Standards
Revision of PP 1/239 Dose expression for plant protection products
Revision of PP 1/307 Efficacy considerations and data generation when making changes to the chemical composition or formulation type of plant protection products
Revised Specific Standard
Revision of PP 1/259 Delia radicum on oilseed rape (minor revision)
Revision of PP 1/073 Psylliodes chrysocephala on oilseed rape
Revision of PP 1/218 Phyllotreta spp. on oilseed rape
Revision of PP 1/002 Phytophthora infestans on potato
Revision of PP 1/019 Seed-borne cereal fungi
Revision of PP 1/184 Regulation of growth in citrus
Revision of PP 1/050 Weeds in maize (minor revision)
Revision of PP 1/052 Weeds in sugar and fodder beet and industrial chicory (minor revision)
Revision of PP 1/076 Weeds in forage legumes (minor revision)
Revision of PP 1/091 Weeds in Phaseolus and Pisum (minor revision)
Revision of PP 1/255 Regulation of growth in pome fruits by post-harvest and ‘in store’ applications (minor revision)
In addition to this revision of standard text (only) in seven herbicide Standards had been approved by the Working Party:
PP 1/051 Weeds in potato
PP 1/093 Weeds in cereals
PP 1/049 Weeds in brassica oil crops
PP 1/063 Weeds in sunflower
PP 1/088 Weeds in flower bulbs and flower tubers
PP 1/053 Weeds in lupin and Vicia beans
PP 1/075 Weeds in Allium crops
EPPO Codes
The Working Party was informed that progress was made on the development of the harmonized classification to describe PPP uses and that non-taxonomic EPPO Codes are integrated in the EPPO Global Database. The Working Party agreed to deactivate the historical codes. They will remain in the Database and it will be possible to search them. However, the search will only give these historical Codes if the option “show the deactivated codes” is chosen. The EPPO classification for non-taxonomic Codes to describe PPP uses is useful for the EU countries entering data in the Plant Protection Products Application Management System (PPPAMS) developed by the European Commission.
Resistance to PPP
The Working Party was informed that progress was made on the development of EPPO Database on Resistance Cases. For the moment it exists as a tool for the Resistance Panel on Plant Protection Products only, but the objective is that it will be a tool to assist all EPPO member countries to share information on PPP resistance cases including published and confirmed cases of resistance and reports of suspected cases of resistance (emerging cases). The system will evolve, in the future, into a platform to assist EPPO member countries and applicants involved in PPP authorizations.
Minor Uses Extrapolation Database
EPPO extrapolation tables for minor uses were prepared some years ago. Following the wish of member countries, it was decided to create a database basing on the extrapolation tables. The Working Party agreed to create the Expert Working Group on extrapolation database.
Programme of activity
The Working Party discussed future activities and priorities which will be submitted to the EPPO Council in September 2020 for approval. In addition to proposals for new Standards or revision of existing ones, future activities include new zonal examples and the finalization of the harmonized classification for EPPO Codes to describe uses of plant protection products. The Working Party agreed on the further development of EPPO database on resistance cases and on plans to create a database on extrapolation possibilities for minor uses.
The next Working Party on Plant Protection Products will take place on 2021-06-14/16.