THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty,
Whereas:
(1)
The use of pesticides is recognised as posing threats both to human health and the environment. In its Communication of 12 July 2006 entitled ‘A Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides’, the Commission adopted a strategy aiming at reducing the risks to human health and the environment resulting from the use of pesticides. Furthermore, the European Parliament and the Council have adopted Directive 2009/128/EC of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides (the ‘Framework Directive’).
(2)
The design, construction and maintenance of machinery for pesticide application play a significant role in reducing the adverse effects of pesticides on human health and the environment. Regarding pesticide application equipment already in professional use, the Framework Directive introduces requirements for the inspection and maintenance to be carried out on such equipment.
(3)
The Framework Directive applies to pesticides which are plant protection products. It is therefore appropriate to limit the scope of this Directive to machinery for the application of pesticides that are plant protection products. However, since it is anticipated that the scope of the Framework Directive will be extended to cover biocidal products, the extension of the scope of the environmental protection requirements to machinery for the application of biocidal products should be examined by the Commission by 31 December 2012.
(4)
The requirements for the protection of the health and safety of persons and, where appropriate, domestic animals and property are already covered by Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery. It is therefore appropriate that essential environmental protection requirements for the design and construction of new machinery for pesticide application are included in the Directive 2006/42/EC, while ensuring that these requirements are consistent with those of the Framework Directive relating to maintenance and inspection.
(5)
For this purpose, it is also necessary to include a reference to the protection of the environment in Directive 2006/42/EC, while limiting this objective to the category of machinery and to the risks subject to specific environmental protection requirements.
(6)
Machinery for pesticide application includes self-propelled, towed, vehicle-mounted, semi-mounted and airborne machinery, as well as stationary machinery intended for pesticide application, both for professional and non-professional use. It also includes powered or manually-operated portable and handheld machinery with a pressure chamber.
(7)
This Directive is limited to the essential requirements with which machinery for pesticide application must comply before being placed on the market and/or put into service, while the European standardisation organisations are responsible for drawing up harmonised standards providing detailed specifications for the various categories of such machinery in order to enable manufacturers to comply with those requirements.
(8)
It is essential that all interested parties, including industry, farmers and environmental organisations, are equally involved in the establishment of such harmonised standards, so as to ensure that they are adopted on the basis of a clear consensus amongst all stakeholders.
(9)
Directive 2006/42/EC should be therefore amended accordingly.
(10)
In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making, Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public.
(11)
Where the available scientific evidence is insufficient to allow an accurate risk assessment, Member States, when taking measures under this Directive, should apply the precautionary principle, which is a principle of Community law outlined, inter alia, in the Communication from the Commission of 2 February 2000, while taking due consideration of the other rules and principles contained in Directive 2006/42/EC, such as the free movement of goods and the presumption of conformity,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: