An important step has been taken in the direction of getting the plant products recommended by Pesticides Initiative Programme (PIP) registered in ACP countries.

A two-day PIP Import Tolerance seminar last month, along with a workshop on the adaptation of ACP regulations, were attended by representatives of the three parties most concerned by the problem: the ACP States (the regulatory authorities from ICDCS, CEMAC, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Jamaica), the European Union (the European Commission and the regulatory authorities of certain Member States) and a host of pesticide manufacturers.

The seminar briefed ACP regulatory authorities on current European legislation and its likely short to medium term evolution. PIP presented the results of all field-trials conducted in order to facilitate the revision of crop protocols and establish the list of pesticides that a) correspond to European standards and b) will require the setting of an Import Tolerance.

The seminar also gave pesticide manufacturers the opportunity to agree on the presentation of Import Tolerance files.

Participants reviewed the process of legalisation of the pesticides recommended by PIP in its crop protocols. To obtain registration, products have to clear a key hurdle: the effectiveness trials that in principle should be carried out over two to four seasons.

To shorten this period, the West and Central African states proposed a reduction in the number of trials to a single cycle, but on no fewer than three sites per product, which would make it possible to obtain registration in less than a year. The group of East African states agreed to the principle of a case-by-case review, depending on the necessity and urgency of legalisation.

Jamaica, for its part, does not require effectiveness trials.

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