Evaluation of the emergency authorisations granted by the Member State Hungary for plant protection products containing clothianidin, imidacloprid or thiamethoxam

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was requested by the European Commission to provide technical assistance in accordance with Article 53(2) of Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009 to examine the emergency authorisations granted in 2017 by the competent national authority in Hungary for plant protection products containing the neonicotinoid active substances clothianidin, imidacloprid or thiamethoxam for use on maize, sunflower and rapeseed that were restricted in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 485/2013. In particular, EFSA was asked to assess whether the granting of these emergency authorisations and their wide scope were necessary because of danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. In this context, EFSA collected and evaluated the information in relation to the emergency authorisations for clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in Hungary in line with the EFSA insecticide protocol developed as part of a mandate on the application of Article 4(7) of Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009. The current Technical Report summarises the outcome of the evaluation of 15 crop/pest combinations considered in Hungary in 2017.

The evaluation demonstrated that for seven crop/pest combinations no sufficient alternative active substance to clothianidin imidacloprid and thiamethoxam are currently authorised in Hungary, to provide an alternative mode of action (MoA). For four crop/pest combinations there was an alternative a.s. authorised with the same MoA as the a.s. under consideration. For four crop/pest combinations EFSA could not conclude as it requires a conclusion by Hungary on feasibility of alternative noninsecticide methods.

The evaluation included an assessment of non-insecticide alternatives for the presented uses. For two crop/pest combinations crop rotation is highly effective and used on a large scale, and for three crop/pest combinations a semiochemical control is considered feasible and highly effective but is not used on a wide scale.