Guides - Crop Protection

Guidance for the applicant of an authorisation of a plant protection product in Belgium

Procedures and administrative requirements to obtain and/or modify an authorisation for a plant protection product

Guidance for the applicant of an authorisation of a plant protection product in Belgium - March 2024

Guidance authorisation of plant protection products for non-professional (garden) use

Guidance for the evaluation of active substances at EU level

A detailed procedure for the evaluation of active substances with Belgium involved as Rapporteur Member State (RMS) or co-RMS

Evaluation of active substances at EU level (v.3.0)

Procedure application EU MRL / import tolerance

One of the prerequisites to authorize a plant protection product (PPP) is that potential residues in food and feed resulting from the intended use of the PPP are covered by EU Maximum Residue Limits (EU MRLs).

The procedure for the application and setting of an EU MRL (incl. import tolerance) is clarified in Guidance Document SANTE/2015/10595 prepared by the European Commission.

The submission and evaluation of confirmatory data for an EU MRL following the MRL review follows more or less the same procedure as a standard application for setting/modification of an EU MRL (see above). Additional guidance is available in Working Document SANTE/E4/VW 10235/2016 prepared by the European Commission.

Additional practical information and particular guidance regarding the implementation of this procedure in Belgium is included in a separate document (see pdf below).

Implementation procedure in Belgium (28/03/2022)
Guidance Document SANTE/2015/10595 (MRL-setting procedure)Working Document SANTE/E4/VW 10235/2016 (MRL confirmatory data)

Guidance : environmental fate and behaviour

This guidance provides an overview of the requirements for environmental fate and behaviour for the authorisation of a plant protection product.

Guidance on the technical requirements for the section Fate and Behaviour in the Environment (v.2.5)

OECD Guidance document on botanical active substances used in plant protection

OECD Guidance document on botanical active substances used in plant protection

Instructions for the renewal under Regulation (EU) No 1107/2009

A list of instructions for the renewal of active substances under Regulation (EU) No 1107/2009.

1-MCP - instructions Art. 43 2,4-D - instructions Art. 43 2,4-DB - instructions Art. 43 abamectin - instructions AIR3 acetamiprid - instructions Art. 43 acibenzolar-S-methyl - instructions Art. 43 Akanthomyces muscarius strain Ve6 - instructions Art. 43 alpha-cypermethrin - instructions Art. 43 Ampelomyces quisqualis strain AQ10 - instructions Art. 43 bentazone - instructions Art. 43 benzoic acid - instructies Art. 43 carfentrazon-ethyl - instructions Art. 43 Clonostachys rosea strain J1446 - instructions Art. 43 clopyralid - instructions Art. 43 Coniothyrium minitans Strain CON/M/91-08 (DSM 9660) - instructions Art. 43 copper compounds - instructions Art. 43 cyazofamid - instructions Art. 43 cypermethrin - instructions Art. 43 dimethenamid-P - instructions Art. 43 esfenvalerate - instructions Art. 43 ethofumesate - instructions Art. 43 etoxazole - instructions Art. 43 fenhexamid - instructions Art. 43 ferric phosphate - instructions Art. 43 florasulam - instructions Art. 43 flumioxazin - instructions Art. 43 foramsulfuron - instructions Art. 43 garlic extract - instructions Art. 43 imazamox - instructions Art. 43 iodosulfuron - instructions Art. 43 isoxaflutole - instructions Art. 43 kiezelgoer - instructions Art. 43 laminarin - instructions Art. 43 lambda-cyhalothrin - instructions Art. 43 mesosulfuron - instructions Art. 43 metalaxyl-M - instructions Art. 43 Metarhizium brunneum strain MA 43 - instructions Art. 43 methoxyfenozide - instructions Art. 43 metsulfuron-methyl - instructions Art. 43 picolinafen - instructions Art. 43 potassium hydrogen carbonate - instructions Art. 43 propoxycarbazone - instructies Art. 43 Pseudomonas chlororaphis strans MA342 - instructions Art. 43 propyzamide - instructions Art. 43 pyraflufen-ethyl - instructions Art. 43 pyriproxyfene - instructions Art. 43 Pythium oligandum M1 - instructions Art. 43 sheep fat - instructions Art. 43 silthiofam - instructions Art. 43 straight chain lepidopteran pheromones (SCLPs) - instructions Art. 43 Streptomyces strain K61 - instructions Art. 43 sulfosulfuron - instructions Art. 43 tolclofos-methyl - instructions Art. 43 tribenuron - instructions Art. 43 trifloxystrobine - instructions Art. 43 zoxamide - instructions Art. 43

Guidance dose expression for vertical crops

This guidance document on the dose expression for vertical crops contains all the information necessary for applicants of authorisations for plant protection products to calculate the dose per hectare leaf wall area (LWA).

Dose expression for vertical crops

Guidance to plant protection products for ornamentals

Authorisations in ornamentals are generally use extensions made by third parties (research stations, producers organizations, …), but authorisation holders are also invited to propose use extensions in ornamentals. This guidance indicates the points which should be taken into consideration when generating this type of dossier.

Application for plant protection products used on ornamentals (v1)

Guidance application for a basic substance

The European Commission has drafted a guidance document that describes the procedure for an application for a basic substance including the format, required documents, ...

EU guidance for an application for a basic substance

Guidance: ecotoxicology

A detailed overview of the data requirements and the required risk evaluations for ecotoxicology.

Guidance Ecotoxicology Belgium (v.2.3) Calculation tool: Moving time window determination (Belgium, v.2)
Calculation tool: Mixture toxicity

Requirements for the authorisation of adjuvants

National requirements applied in Belgium to an application for authorization of an adjuvant for agricultural use

Requirements for the authorisation of adjuvants (v.1.3)

Guidance: Physico-chemistry

An overview of guidance documents available for the assessment of the physico-chemical characteristics of plant protection products, incl. information about the possibility to extrapolation packaging materials, the FAO and WHO specifications and the European guidance document on the validation of analytical methods.

Technical requirements physico-chemistry Extrapolation of packaging materials
Manual on development and use of FAO and WHO specifications for pesticides (2022)Guidance Document on Pesticide Analytical Methods for Risk Assessment and Post-approval Control and Monitoring PurposesGuidance Document for the Generation and Evaluation of Data on the Physical, Chemical and Technical Properties...

Guidance on parallel trade

Guidance document concerning the parallel trade of plant protection products

EU guidance on parallel trade

Overview recent guidance documents

New European technical and procedural guidance documents are entering into force. This has repercussions on the applications for authorisation of plant protection products and on the dossiers for the approval of active substances at European level. The timing for these new guidance documents to be applied is given in the document below.

Unless indicated otherwise in the document here under, these guidelines are available on the website of DG Health and Food Safety.

Overview recent guidance documents (07/2018)

Guidance evaluation of the equivalence of active substances

Guidance equivalence evaluation of chemical active substancesGuidance equivalence evaluation of micro-organisms

Spreadsheet PECs

The basic spreadsheet for PEC values. Other spreadsheets (multiple application PEC calculator; first-order multiple application accumulation PEC) are available on the website of the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) from the United Kingdom.

pecsol.xls

Evaluation of new drift-reducing equipment

Evaluation of new drift-reducing equipment (20230529)

CLP - Safety recommendations in Belgium

Guidelines for the selection and application of the precautionary statements (P statements) for plant protection products in Belgium (as applied by the Registration committee from 1/4/2016). Note that P statements can be assigned by the committee if it deems to be necessary based on the risk evaluation.

Precautionary statements for plant protection products in Belgium

CLP - Classification and labelling

CLP Classification and labelling

CLP - Procedure and checklist

CLP - Procedure and checklist

First aid

Instructions on how to notify your product to the Belgian Poison Centre concerning first aid.

Notification to the Poison Centre (27/04/2021)
Instructions pour la rédaction des conseils de premiers secours (FR, 01/12/2020)Instructies voor het opstellen van de eerste-hulpaanwijzingen (NL, 01/12/2020)

National requirement per member state (central zone)

National requirements - Central Zone (2021/06)

Application of the European guidance concerning the emissions from protected crops to the environment in Belgium

Emissions from protected crops to the environment in Belgium

List of minor crops

A list of cultures considered as minor uses in Belgium.

List of minor crops (FR)List of minor crops (NL)

Guidance for comparative assessment in Belgium

This guidance has the purpose to explain how the Belgian competent authority (the Service Plant Protection Products and Fertilisers, SPF) will undertake comparative assessment and substitution, a requirement for certain plant protection products introduced by EU Regulation 1107/2009, and to announce new guidance for applicants. Furthermore, we propose applicants a form in annex 2, specific for Belgium, for submitting information to support the process of comparative assessment.

Guidance for Comparative Assessment in Belgium (02/02/2018 v.1.1)

List of plant protection products for organic agriculture in Belgium

This list contains the plant protection products which are authorised in Belgium and can be used in organic farming in accordance with annex I of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1165 of 15 July 2021 authorising certain products and substances for use in organic production and establishing their lists.

Liste de produits phytopharmaceutiques autorisés en Belgique en agriculture biologiqueLijst gewasbeschermingsmiddelen toegelaten voor biologische landbouw in België

Data requirements and procedure for the risk assessment for bees

Belgian national approach for the risk assessment for bees (30/11/2021)

List of active substances authorized in organic farming

Liste de substances actives autorisées en agriculture biologiqueLijst werkzame stoffen biologische landbouw

Searching for authorisations

Searching with the new search functionality is made easier by a lot of modifications. Below you find more information about these changes, the new functionalities and a number of limitations.

Filters

You can refine your results before or after a query. For the time being, following filters are available:

  • User category: professional or non professional use
  • Status: in standard mode only authorised products are searched for. It is possible to differentiate between authorised products in selling out or in using out status. Those products are also clearly marked in the searching results. You can also search for the since 2019 withdrawn authorisations.
  • Product characteristic: a number of specific properties  to reduce the outcome, e.g. a low risk product according to article 47 of Regulation 1107/2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market.
  • Authorisation type:
    • Standard authorisation
    • Permit for parallel trade
    • Basic substance
    • Adjuvant
  • Nature: filter for herbicides, insecticides…. It is possible to check multiple options at the same time.
  • Formulation type: filter for the type of formulation, e.g. SC or suspension concentrate

Lists

A number of lists are available below the search function. Those are refreshed on a daily basis.

  • all crops present in our database (this does not necessarily mean that for all those crops a number of products are authorised for being used)
  • all pests present in our database (this does not necessarily mean that for all those pests a number of products are authorised for being used)
  • all authorisation holders

Instead of the previously offered .txt-document with information concerning the authorised plant protection products, it is now possible to generate yourself a list of all authorised products via the searching function, and export the results into an excelfile. You can do this by searching for all authorisations without selecting any parameter. You will in that case receive a full list containing all authorised products. Off course, you can follow the same procedure in order to generate different lists by selecting other filters.

Crops and pests

The crops are ordered in a hierarchical way in our database (see the section Lists above to obtain a  full list). The new searching function allows to search for products that are suited for use in a crop, taking into account this hierarchy. E.g. when looking for a specific ornamental crop, you will also find the products that are authorised for use in the whole group of ornamental crops.

You can search for crops or pests or on one or more combinations of a crop and a pest. Just make sure to first select the crop and only then the pest.

Basic substances

The basic substances used to be present in a separate list, but now they are integrated in the searching function.

Search results

In the search results table, it is possible to make extra columns visible (button 'Show columns') to get more information about the authorisations found and to compare them. In these columns, e.g. relevant dates are present, so you can sort over new or recently changed admissions.

Selecting columns and exporting results in the search function

These data are all present when exporting the results to an excel file ('Export' button above the results table).

Profile page of an authorisation

An important change in the profile page of an authorisation is the availability of the history of this authorisation. All modifications of an authorisation after 1/12/2020 remain available via consultation of this history.

For authorisations that were valid on 1/01/2019, the history stays available even when the authorisation is withdrawn. The previously authorised uses and the classification of the product are however no longer visible on Phytoweb.

Emergency authorisations

The temporary emergency authorisations (or: 120 days authorisations) are for technical reasons as yet not present in the first version of the new searching function. In a following version this will be the case. As from then you will find them between the other authorisations, marked as temporary authorisations. Until then, you can still consult those authorisation (FR) here.