In accordance with the European Plant Protection Regulation (PPR) , the European Commission (EC) was to present “a draft of the measures concerning specific scientific criteria for the determination of endocrine disrupting properties” by December 14, 2013. The deadline was missed by the EC and so far, the EC has not scheduled a new deadline for the presentation of the EDC criteria. In an article published December 16, 2013, the non-governmental organization Pesticides Action Network (PAN) Europe expresses concerns that the criteria may be delayed by various years. In the mean time, interim criteria layed down in EC 1107/2009 will be applied. The process of criteria development carried out by the EC Directorate General of the Environment (DG Environment) was halted in July 2013, because the Commission Secretary General Catherine Day required an economic impact assessment of the setting of such criteria, which is yet to be completed. PAN Europe claims that an economic impact assessment previous to the development of EDC criteria mixes scientific with political considerations. The PPR’s endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) criteria was expected to guide the formulation of horizontal criteria for EDCs to be used also in other areas of regulation, such as cosmetics, toys and food contact materials (FCMs).
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Pesticide Action Network Europe (December 16, 2013). “It is a fact now: European Commission missed the deadline for presenting the criteria for endocrine disrupting pesticides.”
