Guidance for summarising and evaluating field studies with non-target arthropods : aguidance document of the Dutch Platform for the Assessment of Higher Tier Studies

This report gives guidance for summarizing and evaluating field studies with non-target arthropods. Plant protection products can cause harmful effects on non-target organisms. A guidance document has been developed for ensuring that the test results required for the registration of pesticides be supplied in a uniform and transparent manner. This document is specifically directed at experiments with non-target arthropods, living on the soil surface or on the vegetation, for example on arable land or in orchards. With this dossier Ctgb assesses whether a certain use of a plant protection product is allowed in the Netherlands. Complex and extensive information concerning field studies with non-target arthropods can be part of the dossier. In the Netherlands, these reports are evaluated by different evaluating institutes. Potential differences in the evaluator’s methodology may lead to a lack of uniformity in the form and content of the summaries and evaluations and – occasionally – in the conclusions. This was the reason for Ctgb to ask for standardization of the summaries and evaluation of field studies with non-target arthropods. Apart from the guidance, the report contains two elaborated examples of evaluating reports and recommendations for the use of the results of a particular field study for the risk assessment. This concerns, for example, the extrapolation of the results of a particular field study in a particular crop and region to the crop and region relevant for the registration.