Status of glyphosate in the EU

Glyphosate is currently approved in the EU until 15 December 2022.

Therefore, glyphosate can be used as an active substance in Plant Protection Products (PPPs), until that date, subject to each PPP being authorised by national authorities following an evaluation of its safety.

On 10 May 2019, the Commission appointed four Member States (France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden) acting jointly as 'rapporteurs' for the next assessment of glyphosate – this group of Member States is known as the Assessment Group on Glyphosate (AGG).

On 12 December 2019, the Glyphosate Renewal Group (a group of companies seeking the renewal of approval of glyphosate in the EU), sent an application for the renewal of approval of glyphosate post-2022 to the AGG, the other Member States, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission. This application formally initiates the renewal process in the EU as provided for by Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009.

Renewal process

An application has been sent by the Glyphosate Renewal Group and has been checked by the AGG to ensure it fulfils the requirements of the relevant EU legislation (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 844/2012 on the renewal procedure for active substances).

The application is published on EFSA’s website.

The supplementary dossiers containing the required set of scientific studies and literature data were submitted by the Glyphosate Renewal Group on 8 June 2020 (before the deadline of 15 June 2020).

The AGG will carry out an admissibility check of the supplementary dossiers followed by an assessment of all available information which, once completed, will be transmitted to EFSA to initiate the peer review process.

Questions and answers

Why a group of RMS and not a single RMS?

In general, the European Commission appoints rapporteur Member States in a consensual way (i.e. with the agreement of the Member State concerned) and for each substance, one Rapporteur Member State and one co-rapporteur Member State are nominated.

In the case of glyphosate, because of the expected very large application dossier and the related high workload, no single Member State volunteered to become rapporteur Member State or co-rapporteur Member State.

Following discussions with the Member States, a group of EU countries have accepted to act jointly as rapporteur.

Does the EU legislation allow multiple Member States to act as RMS?

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 844/2012 lays down the provisions necessary for the implementation of the renewal procedure. An amendment to this Regulation to enable in exceptional cases a group of Member States to work jointly as rapporteur Member States, was adopted by Member States on 10 May 2019.

Which Member States are part of the AGG?

The following Member States have agreed to be part of the AGG: France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The scientific work will be carried out by their respective national agencies.

The AGG will assess the application dossier submitted by interested companies and will prepare a single draft renewal assessment report to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2021.

Some facts about glyphosate