Report mapping challenges and opportunities for revising EU regulation of LRPs

For a better understanding and quantification of the main challenges surrounding the RA of pLRPs and product authorization, a questionnaire was developed to inquire the respective NAs within the EU MSs, that are in charge of assessing/regulating both active substances and products. This questionnaire aims to identify resource gaps and hurdles regarding the RA of pLRPs, and thus, possible solutions for improving regulation regarding pLRPs, which is a pivotal question for the development of alternative solutions regarding plant protection.

This questionnaire has been distributed to all 27 NAs of EU MSs at the beginning of July 2023, to better understand the possible enhancements of the existing regulation. It focused on the evaluation of pLRPs of natural origin, namely (i) plant extracts (ii) pheromones, semiochemicals, and allelochemicals, (iii) ds-RNA and (iv) microbial pesticides including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and novel active substances such as phages, and protists predating on plant pathogens, microbiome solutions and microbiome-modulation approaches. This questionnaire was intended for the key person in charge of the evaluation and/or authorization of these products at the MS level. We kindly asked one key person to reply to this questionnaire on behalf of the respective MS. The questionnaire included 54 questions in total and was divided in 2 successive sections. The first section focused on the evaluation and the approval of active substances submitted with the aim of being granted the “low-risk” status, while the second section dove into the authorization process for new PPPs that have been granted the “low-risk” status. All the questions are detailed in the appendix.