On July 30, 2021, the European Commission notified the WTO that it recommended that the insecticide indoxacarb be no longer approved for EU plant protection product registration (based on EU Plant Protection Product Regulation 1107/2009).
Indoxacarb was approved in 2006 under the old EU regulations for plant protection products (Directive 91/414/EEC), and this re-assessment was carried out under the new regulations (Regulation No 1107/2009). In the process of member evaluation and peer review, there are many key issues that have not been resolved.
According to the conclusion of the assessment report of the European Food Safety Agency EFSA, the main reasons are as follows:
(1) The long-term risk to wild mammals is unacceptable, especially for small herbivorous mammals.
(2) Representative use-applied to lettuce, which was found to pose a high risk to consumers and workers.
(3) Representative use-the production of seeds applied to corn, sweet corn and lettuce was found to pose a high risk to bees.
As there is no representative use of a product that can meet the EU Plant Protection Product Regulation 1107/2009, the EU finally decided not to approve the active substance.
The EU has not yet issued a formal resolution to ban indoxacarb. According to the EU's notification to the WTO, the EU hopes to issue a ban resolution as soon as possible, and will not wait until the deadline (December 31, 2021) ends.
According to the EU Plant Protection Products Regulation 1107/2009, after the decision to ban active substances is issued, the corresponding plant protection products have a sales and distribution buffer period of no more than 6 months, and a stock consumption period of no more than 1 year. The specific length of the buffer period will also be given in the EU's official prohibition notice.
