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As were informed IBMA Members via the 30th March IBMA News, over the past few months, we have been in discussion with European Commission DGs, Cabinets and Members States Permanent Representations to ask for a definition of biocontrol in the SUD revision. As part of these discussions, overcoming authorisation delays for biocontrol has been discussed. Recently IBMA has been asked to share thoughts on how to speed up authorisations. A paper has been shared with the European Commission as a starting point.
IBMA calls for immediate action to solve this. Europe’s response to the COVID pandemic has shown that Europe is capable of rapid and coordinated action without compromising safety. IBMA now calls on the European Union and Member State authorities to show the same sense of urgency to combat the climate and biodiversity crisis.
This will now need to be discussed widely in IBMA and developed further. In particular, we will be asking the PGs and the Advisory Regulatory WG to build on this initial document and develop:
- New points of implementation or amendments
- Clear recommendations for future biocontrol regulation (step 3 in the document)
- Clarity on the position of the fertilizer product regulation dual use (already an action to be completed by the working group)
- Evidence of products in the pipeline and what could reach market by when if we were able to speed up the authorisation process as described in the paper. This last point will become increasingly important as the interest grows in helping alternatives such as biocontrol to reach the market. Within the context of food security and sustainability, there are questions being raised as to whether there is enough innovation available in the biocontrol pipeline even if the authorisation process is improved.
As an industry we have a full pipeline and we need to share this evidence with the EU over the next few months.