IBMA Reaction to the European Commission adoption of the new rules for micro-organisms (also known as microbials) used in plant protection products

IBMA would like to underline the following points:

IBMA appreciates that the weight of evidence approach can replace the systematic use of animal studies to address toxicity and pathogenicity end points.
Biology and ecology are considered the basis for the risk assessment decisions, which is a key adaptation for effective microbial risk assessment,
These revised Data Requirements are a crucial part of the Farm to Fork strategy implementation but alone cannot speed up the delivery of micro-organisms/microbials to the farmers.
The authorization process of 1107/2009 needs to be implemented in a way that allows authorization and placing on the market in Member States within 1-3 years of initial submission as seen for biocontrol in other countries such as USA and Brazil. Timescales for a product to reach the market following submission in the European Union range from 4 years to 10 years.