Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Agriculture - Approximation of laws - Placing of plant protection products on the market - Directive 91/414 - Product imported from a State belonging to the European Economic Area in which it is already covered by marketing authorisation granted in accordance with Directive 91/414 - Identical to a product already authorised in the territory of the Member State of importation - Whether a new marketing authorisation is necessary - Not necessary - Where a product is imported from a third country and is not covered by marketing authorisation granted in accordance with the directive - Member State of importation required to grant an authorisation only under the conditions laid down by the directive - Where such a product is identical to a product already authorised - Not relevant

(Council Directive 91/414)

Summary

Where the competent authority of a Member State finds that a plant protection product imported from a State belonging to the European Economic Area, in which it is already covered by marketing authorisation granted in accordance with Directive 91/414 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, is not identical in all respects to a product already authorised within the Member State of importation, but at least

- shares a common origin with that product in that it has been manufactured by the same company or by an associated undertaking or under licence according to the same formulation,

- was manufactured using the same active ingredient, and

- has the same effects (bearing in mind differences which may exist in conditions relating to agriculture, plant health and the environment, in particular climatic conditions, relevant to the use of the product),

it must be possible for that product to benefit from the marketing authorisation already granted in the Member State of importation, unless this is precluded by considerations concerning the protection of human and animal health and of the environment.

The same authority may grant marketing authorisation for a plant protection product which is imported from a third country and is not already covered by such authorisation granted in accordance with the provisions of Directive 91/414 in another Member State, but only under the conditions laid down by the directive. Such a product does not provide the same guarantees with regard to protection of human and animal health and of the environment as those afforded by a product imported from a Member State of the Community or from a State belonging to the European Economic Area in which it has already been granted marketing authorisation in accordance with the directive. In that connection, there is at present no harmonisation at international level of the conditions in which plant protection products may be placed on the market, nor any general principle of the free movement of goods comparable to that prevailing within the Community and endorsed by the latter. Thus, the directive applies to the placing on the market in a Member State of a plant protection product imported from a third country, even if the competent authorities of the Member State of importation consider that product to be identical to a master plant protection product already authorised in accordance with the directive.