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GLOBAL MINOR USE SUMMIT IV: �PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION��INTRODUCTION OF THE EUROPEAN MINOR USES COORDINATION FACILITY & OVERVIEW OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION ON MINOR USES WORK IN EUROPE.

ANTOINE MARTIN & MUCF TEAM

2024-02-5/9

MADRID, SPAIN

Major Importance

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

hosted by

EPPO

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ABOUT THE EUROPEAN MINOR USES COORDINATION FACILITY (MUCF)

Established in 2015, initially funded by the EU and the governments of France, Germany and the Netherlands for 3 years. Since 2019, funding has been dependent on voluntary contributions from European countries.
4 staff members: Coordinator, Scientific Officer, IT Officer (vacant), Administrator + Regulatory consultant (pending).
The MUCF’s Mission is to support European stakeholders in closing crop protection gaps in minor uses:

It coordinates collaboration and information exchange to improve the availability of sustainable crop protection solutions within an IPM framework.
The objective is to enable farmers to produce high-quality crops and contribute to sustainable European agriculture.

The Facility is service-oriented towards the MUCF experts. It aims to build trust and collaboration between different European stakeholders.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

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MUCF MAIN FIELDS OF ACTIVITY & CORE COMPETENCIES

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

MUCF Meetings

Database

EUMUDA

Information Exchange/

Awareness-raising

Host & facilitate MUCF Commodity Groups (CEG), Residue Expert Group (ReEG) and Horizontal Expert (HEG) meetings twice a year.
Organise meetings between stakeholders to discuss possible solutions and approaches for identified minor uses needs.

Host & further develop the European Minor Uses Database (EUMUDA).

https://www.eumuda.eu

Implement & collect minor use needs and priorities, minor & major uses, minor & major crops, and crop acreage data information.
Projects on identified PPP gaps (Expert Groups approved, data not public).

Coordinate & support minor uses work among European countries and stakeholders.
Address regulatory hurdles & minor uses issues.
MUCF newsletter
EUMUDA latest news
LinkedIn

#LetsTalkAboutMinorUses #MinorUsesMajorImportance

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MUCF ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE & GOVERNANCE

Governance MUCF

Annual General Meeting

MUCF Steering Group

Governance EPPO

Council

Executive Committee

Co-ordination & Facilitation

Line management

Administrative support

EPPO Working Party on PPPs

Relevant EPPO panels and Expert Working Groups

Scientific-Officer

Co-ordinator

Scientific-Officer

Secretariat

EU Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF)

Funding MUCF

Voluntary contribution from European countries

Expert Working Groups:

Commodity Expert Groups (CEGs)

Horizontal Expert Group (HEG) Residue Extrapolation Expert Group (ReEG)

CEGs:

Fruits & Vegetables

Herbs & Spices

Hops

Mushrooms

Ornamentals

Seeds

Tobacco

Mutual participation

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EU PESTICIDE APPROVAL PROCEDURE: HOW DOES IT WORK?

Dossier compiled by the applicant for first application or renewal.

Dossier submitted to (a) Rapporteur Member State(s) (RMS).

Copied to all other concerned Member States (cMS).

The RMS conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the dossier for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Commission .

Assessment peer-reviewed by experts from all cMS and EFSA.

EFSA finalises its opinion, transmitted to the European Commission (EC).

The EC proposes an approval or non-approval of the active substance at SCoPAFF. Voted by each MS.

Products containing the active substance are authorised in each MS on a national basis.

Scientific rigour

Risk-based approach

Transparency

Public consultation

Key Characteristics

What legal framework do we have to work into and what is the approval procedure for pesticide approval in the EU.

-Ne pas utiliser les acronyms

- ne pas détailler les key characteristics

After the Committee delivers a positive opinion, or if the Appeal Committee delivers no opinion, the decision is adopted by the Commission. A new active substance is usually approved for a maximum of 10 years (if it is “low risk” it is approved for 15 years), while a renewed approval can be granted for up to 15 years. Approval with restrictions is also possible.

After the approval of an active substance, companies wishing to place products containing the active substance on the market must seek authorisation in the Member States, who must again assess the safety of each plant protection product for each use prior to granting an

SCIENTIFIC RIGOUR: The process is underpinned by robust scientific assessments to determine the safety and efficacy of pesticides. authorisation.

RISK-BASED APPROACH Evaluations focus on potential risks to human health, animal health, and the environment.

TRANSPARENCY Application dossiers, scientific assessments and proposals by the Commission are made public to ensure transparency

PUBLIC CONSULTATION Stakeholders, including industry, NGOs, and the public, may provide input during certain stages, in particular on the draft assessment report prepared by the Rapporteur Member State.

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MINOR USES DEFINITION AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Definition of minor uses according to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 – Article 3(26):

‘Use of a plant protection product in a particular Member State on plants or plant products which are:

(a) not widely grown in that Member State, or

(b) widely grown to meet an exceptional plant protection need’

Regulatory framework:

Regulation (EC) 1107/2009: Placing PPPs on the market.
Sustainable Use Directive 2009/128/EC.
Regulation (EC) 396/2005: PPP Residues.
National requirements and definitions.

The lack of a harmonised definition of a minor use is an obstacle for the authorisation of PPPs on minor uses.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

National dimension

Minor crop

Minor use on a major crop

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EXPLANATORY NOTE ON MINOR USES PROCEDURES ACCORDING TO REG. (EC) 1107/2009

Endorsed by SCoPAFF in 2022.

Objectives:

To encourage European countries to take a consistent approach for:

The evaluation of dossiers.
The use of the risk envelope approach.
The use of relevant extrapolation tables and extrapolation possibilities for residues.

To stimulate the practical implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, reduce obstacles for mutual recognition of minor uses between European countries and to encourage harmonisation.
To explain the application procedures to professional users, agricultural organisations, official or scientific bodies involved in agricultural activities and other stakeholders.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

Download

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MUCF MINOR USES SURVEY 2022

Scope: Provide an overview of information and compiled data on minor uses work and procedures in several European countries.
Survey comprised 7 chapters:

Responsibilities, definition, data on minor uses and minor crops.
Trials.
Article 51 applications (extension of authorisation for minor uses).
Risk assessment.
Mutual recognition.
Draft Registration Report.
General topics.

22 countries participated in the 2022 survey.
Full report to be available in first quarter of 2024.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

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MAIN OUTCOMES OF THE MINOR USES SURVEY 2022

Risk assessments: Importance of national requirements for the risk assessments. The national law, if it has different requirements, overrules the European law in case of risk assessment.
Definition of minor crops and uses: Diversity of criteria to define a minor crop/minor use in the European countries. Mostly used:

Acreage
Daily consumption

Production value: Although minor crops are grown on lower acreage compared to major crops (mostly below 10% of the total cultivation acreage), the generated production value is high (7 to 49% of the total agricultural production value).

These outcomes provide a basis for future work.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

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EUMUDA DATABASES: AVAILABLE DATA AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

EUMUDA table of needs https://www.eumuda.eu/database/table_minor_uses

The table of needs display minor uses gaps and information on the urgency and occurrence of needs in Europe, shared with the MUCF by the national MUCF contact points.
The MUCF CEGs focus on closing these gaps by setting up projects (trial data generation and sharing).

Minor/major crops database https://www.eumuda.eu/database/minor_major_crops

Database of the crop status in the European countries + criteria to define a minor crop.
12 countries included for now: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal, Switzerland and United Kingdom, and more countries to be included in the future.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

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EUMUDA TABLE OF NEEDS: OVERALL MOST PRIORITISED NEEDS

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

Rank	Pest	Pest (Common name)	Crop
1.	Drosophila suzukii	Spotted wing drosophila	Raspberry
2.	Drosophila suzukii	Spotted wing drosophila	Strawberry
3.	Peronospora destructor	Downy mildew	Onion
4.	Delia radicum	Cabbage root fly	White cabbage
5.	Chamaepsila rosae	Carrot fly	Carrot
6.	Drosophila suzukii	Spotted wing drosophila	Blueberry
7.	Drosophila suzukii	Spotted wing drosophila	Sweet cherry
8.	Delia antiqua	Onion fly	Onion
9.	Tetranychus urticae	Two-spotted spider mite	Raspberry
10.	Fusarium oxysporum	Basal rot	Onion

Download

More than 3500 needs at the moment.

The current table includes minor uses needs of the following Member countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom as well as Switzerland and Norway.�In addition, for the following Member countries, data are available from the Tobacco Commodity Expert Group for Macedonia, and from the Hop Commodity Expert Group for Czech Republic.��In total, minor use needs and priorities from 22 EU Member States, plus Norway, Great Britain, Switzerland and Macedonia, are now available.

How was the current table updated to identify priorities?

Member countries were asked to set priorities among their national needs according to instructions given by the MUCF.�Among all the national needs, Member countries had to select 50 minor uses needs as top 50 priorities and to assign a score of "1" to these priorities.

Member countries had to assign a score of "x" to the other needs, that were of lower priority.
Member countries had to assign a score of "0" for the needs to be removed and explain in the column 'comments' the reason for removing the need. For needs resolved, Member countries were asked to indicate the solution found, if appropriate.

Based on the priority setting indicated by the individual Member countries the MUCF then attributed points to each priority score as follows:

Priority 1 represents 4 points
Priority x represents 1 point

The total of points for each need was then calculated.�The MUCF added columns to inform users on the urgency and occurrence of needs in Europe:

A column "frequency" showing how many Member countries share the same need
A column "priority total points" displaying the total of points attributed to priorities of Member countries sharing the same need
A column "priority" displaying the priority score (0,1 or x) of the individual Member country

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EUMUDA TABLE OF NEEDS: MOST PRIORITISED NEED PER CEG

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

CEG	Pest	Pest (common name)	Crop
Fruits & Vegetables	Drosophila suzukii	Spotted wing drosophila	Raspberry
Fruits & Vegetables	Peronospora destructor	Downy mildew	Onion
Tobacco	Peronospora hyoscyami	Downy mildew	Tobacco
Hop	Pseudoperonospora humuli	Downy mildew	Hop
Ornamentals	Frankliniella occidentalis	Western flower thrips	Ornamental herbaceous plants
Mushrooms	Lecanicillium fungicola	Verticillium	Button mushroom
Herbs and Spices	Peronospora belbahrii	Downy mildew	Basil
Seeds	Myzus sp.	Aphids	Seed production of vegetable crops

The current table includes minor uses needs of the following Member countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom as well as Switzerland and Norway.�In addition, for the following Member countries, data are available from the Tobacco Commodity Expert Group for Macedonia, and from the Hop Commodity Expert Group for Czech Republic.��In total, minor use needs and priorities from 22 EU Member States, plus Norway, Great Britain, Switzerland and Macedonia, are now available.

How was the current table updated to identify priorities?

Member countries were asked to set priorities among their national needs according to instructions given by the MUCF.�Among all the national needs, Member countries had to select 50 minor uses needs as top 50 priorities and to assign a score of "1" to these priorities.

Member countries had to assign a score of "x" to the other needs, that were of lower priority.
Member countries had to assign a score of "0" for the needs to be removed and explain in the column 'comments' the reason for removing the need. For needs resolved, Member countries were asked to indicate the solution found, if appropriate.

Based on the priority setting indicated by the individual Member countries the MUCF then attributed points to each priority score as follows:

Priority 1 represents 4 points
Priority x represents 1 point

The total of points for each need was then calculated.�The MUCF added columns to inform users on the urgency and occurrence of needs in Europe:

A column "frequency" showing how many Member countries share the same need
A column "priority total points" displaying the total of points attributed to priorities of Member countries sharing the same need
A column "priority" displaying the priority score (0,1 or x) of the individual Member country

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COMMUNICATION AND AWARENESS-RAISING

MUCF participates in several meetings, conferences and working groups to raise awareness about minor uses hurdles:

In 2024, the MUCF intends to strengthen its collaboration with the PPP industry.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

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DISCUSSION POINTS

Decline of the number of available active substances in EU.

Decline of PPP industry investment in new active substance development.
Farm to Fork strategy with two mains targets:

Target 1: - 50% in use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030.
Target 2: - 50% in use of most hazardous pesticides by 2030.

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

1/31/2024

Increase in the number of minor uses gaps in the near future.

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WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE & EXPAND THE WORK ON MINOR USES?

Preserving agrobiodiversity and improving ecological resilience.
Enforcing European food security and the sustainability of European agriculture in the long term.

“Minor uses production should be considered as an ecosystem service”.

Diversifying agro-ecosystems (e.g. habitat fragmentation) benefits crop/pollination systems.
Positive effects on human health (nutritional diversity) and mental well-being (landscape diversity).
Cultural and traditional importance of minor crops in local food culture and heritage.
Building durable ecosystems, more capable of withstanding the impact of climate change.

An ecosystem service is any benefit that humans get from nature

Ecosystem services offer benefits such as the pollination of crops, clean air, a reduction in extreme weather, human mental and physical well-being, wood for construction, fossil fuels, fresh water, tourism, science, education, recycling, fertilizer, carbon capture, outdoor sports, lakes, flood protection, hydroelectric power, and decomposition of wastes.

It’s hard to put a value on every way that rocks, forests, beaches, woods, plants and animals help our lives. But we can put an economic value on the combined benefits of the world’s ecosystems. All ecosystem services contribute an estimated $125 trillion to $140 trillion a year to the economy.

The complexity of ecosystems means that we don’t always understand what parts of nature’s tapestry are the most important for our lives or for the future of the planet, and we don’t understand the consequences of losing parts of nature.

In a landmark 2019 report, the International Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services said that one million species are in imminent danger of being lost. The consequences of such a disruption of nature will be severe.

What causes pressure on nature and biodiversity?

Land use is one of the big pressures on nature and biodiversity today, when green areas become construction sites, for example. Other pressures result from a growing population, expanding urban areas, and a throw-away culture or a preference for single-use products.

Climate change is going to have a bigger impact on nature in the coming decades. It’s going to be a major driver of extinction, because temperature changes are a danger to ecosystems on every continent.

Land degradation needs to change – and soon. Twenty-three percent of our land is experiencing reduced productivity, and this percentage is increasing. Intensive exploitation of soil has created high agricultural yield, but it is hurting the life of soil. It is also releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.

Protecting nature is not always at odds with business and the economy. Commercial forestry can support sustainable landscapes and foster rural economic growth and employment. For example, the biomass from forests is an important renewable fuel resource.

What is afforestation?

Afforestation is the planting of trees to create forests in areas that have no tree cover. This includes areas that naturally have no trees or land where trees were removed for development purposes.

In the European Union, wooded areas account for over 40% of the land. In recent decades, afforestation has increased this area by about 0.4% a year. Only 60% of the annual forest growth is harvested in the European Union.

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ANY QUESTION?

Major Importance

Minor Uses Coordination Facility

21 Boulevard Richard Lenoir

750011 Paris, France

+33 (0)184790755

Barbara EDLER (Coordinator) barbara.edler@minoruses.eu

Antoine MARTIN (Scientific Officer) antoine.martin@minoruses.eu

www.minoruses.eu

European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)

hosted by

EPPO