Article 9Aerial spraying
1.Member States shall ensure that aerial spraying is prohibited.
2.By way of derogation from paragraph 1 aerial spraying may only be allowed in special cases provided the following conditions are met:
(a)there must be no viable alternatives, or there must be clear advantages in terms of reduced impacts on human health and the environment as compared with land-based application of pesticides;
(b)the pesticides used must be explicitly approved for aerial spraying by the Member State following a specific assessment addressing risks from aerial spraying;
(c)the operator carrying out the aerial spraying must hold a certificate as referred to in Article 5(2). During the transitional period where certification systems are not yet in place, Member States may accept other evidence of sufficient knowledge;
(d)the enterprise responsible for providing aerial spray applications shall be certified by a competent authority for authorising equipment and aircraft for aerial application of pesticides;
(e)if the area to be sprayed is in close proximity to areas open to the public, specific risk management measures to ensure that there are no adverse effects on the health of bystanders shall be included in the approval. The area to be sprayed shall not be in close proximity to residential areas;
(f)as from 2013, the aircraft shall be equipped with accessories that constitute the best available technology to reduce spray drift.
3.Member States shall designate the authorities competent for establishing the specific conditions by which aerial spraying may be carried out, for examining requests pursuant to paragraph 4 and for making public information on crops, areas, circumstances and particular requirements for application including weather conditions where aerial spraying may be allowed.
In the approval the competent authorities shall specify the measures necessary for warning residents and bystanders in due time and to protect the environment in the vicinity of the area sprayed.
4.A professional user wishing to apply pesticides by aerial spraying shall submit a request for approval of an application plan to the competent authority accompanied by evidence to show that the conditions referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 are fulfilled. The request for application of aerial spraying in accordance with the approved application plan shall be submitted in due time to the competent authority. It shall contain information about the provisional time of spraying and the amounts and the type of pesticides applied.
Member States may provide that requests for applications of aerial spraying in accordance with an approved application plan, for which no answer was received on the decision taken within the time period laid down by the competent authorities, shall be deemed to be approved.
In particular circumstances such as emergency or specific difficult situations, single requests for application of aerial spraying may also be submitted for approval. Where justified, competent authorities shall have a possibility to apply an accelerated procedure in order to verify that the conditions referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 are fulfilled before the application of aerial spraying.
5.Member States shall ensure that the conditions referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 are met by conducting appropriate monitoring.
6.The competent authorities shall keep records of the requests and approvals as referred to in paragraph 4 and shall make available to the public the relevant information contained therein such as the area to be sprayed, the provisional day and time of the spraying and the type of pesticide, in accordance with the applicable national or Community law.