Op-Ed: “The Role of Scientific Risk Assessments and the Precautionary Principle in Ensuring Rigorous and Adaptive Authorisation Procedures for Plant Protection Products in the EU- (Case C-308/22 and Joined Cases C-309/22 and C-310/22)” by Carme Ribes Ortega

1. Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that plant protection products have played a pivotal role for food security in recent history, whereas their safety is of equal importance. In order to regulate this issue, the EU has established Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, commonly referred to as the Plant Protection Products Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the PPP Regulation). This was subsequently amended in 2018 by Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/605, which established scientific criteria for the determination of endocrine-disrupting properties.

This Op-Ed presents three cases brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union, namely Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) v College voor de toelating van ge