Luxembourg announced on Monday that it was once again authorizing the marketing of glyphosate-based products, after being the first EU country in 2020 to ban this controversial herbicide, a ban annulled by the Grand Duchy’s justice system.
On February 1, 2020, the country withdrew the marketing authorization for glyphosate-based plant protection products, although it tolerated the disposal of existing stocks, before completely banning their use on Luxembourg soil from January 1, 2021.
“No scientific element”
The ban was overturned by an appeal ruling by the Luxembourg Administrative Court on Friday. The judges pointed out “the absence of indication of any legal argument” to prohibit the 8 products in question in contradiction with the EU legal regime that allowed their distribution.
“The cancellation has the consequence that the authorizations of the phytosanitary products in question are restored from the date of issuance of the sentence,” the Ministry of Agriculture of Luxembourg reacted this Monday.
“The Court confirmed that the withdrawal (of marketing authorizations) violated European legislation,” welcomed the German chemical giant Bayer, which had filed an appeal before the administrative courts against the ban on its products, in particular its Roundup brand. .
“This withdrawal was not based on any scientific or regulatory element that incriminates glyphosate or products based on this substance,” a spokesperson for the group reacted to AFP.
one year extension
The European Commission decided in early December to extend by one year, until December 15, 2023, the current authorization of glyphosate in the EU, already renewed in 2017 for five years, pending a scientific evaluation by European regulators. .
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) plans to present in July 2023 a long-awaited study on “the risks of exposure to glyphosate for animals, humans and the environment”, which it considers essential to decide on the extension, or not, of another five years, from the authorization issued to the herbicide.
The government of Luxembourg, a small state of 645,000 located between Germany, Belgium and France, has banned glyphosate following a political agreement reached in 2018 by the ruling coalition, the first in the EU. Austria had once planned to ban it from the beginning of 2020 before backing down.
The government of the Grand Duchy claimed in early 2020 that almost 60% of farms in Luxembourg had already stopped glyphosate, even before the ban was implemented.
Source: BFM TV
