(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/4192 approved the basic substance Urtica spp. for use in plant protection in: spray applications as an insecticide on fruit trees, pulses and oilseeds, potato, leaf vegetables, rapeseed, root and tuber vegetables, elder tree, rose, Spiraea sp.; spray applications as an acaricide on beans and grapevine; spray applications as a fungicide on Brassicaceae, cucurbits, fruit trees, grapevine and potato, and applications as soil covering included in mulch as a fungicide in field and protected cucumber, field tomato and field and protected roses and ornamental trees. 

(2) In accordance with Article 23(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, the Commission received on 26 September 2019 an application from Collot Agriculture concerning the basic substance Urtica spp. in plant protection. The application proposed the addition of a new recipe for the preparation of the basic substance Urtica spp for a number of proposed uses thereof. The application also proposed new uses of Urtica spp: as a fungicide on common bean to control Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, on cucurbits to control Erysiphe cichoracearum, on strawberry to control Sphaerotheca macularis f. sp. Frafagariae, on all salads to control Golovinomyces cichoracearum, on carrot to control Erysiphe heraclei, and on potato to control Erysiphe cichoracearum; as an insecticide in carrot to control Semiaphis dauci and Psila rosae, on all salads to control Myzus persicae, Aphis gossypii, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Nasonovia ribisnigri, Hyyporomyzus lactucae and Tetranychus urticae, on strawberry to control Myzus persicae, Aphis gossypii, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Nasonovia ribisnigri, Hyyporomyzus lactucae and Tetranychus urticae, on ornamentals to control Aphids and Mites, on asparagus to control Crioceris asparagi and on potato to control Aphis nasturtii, Myzus persicae, Macrosiphum euphorbiae and Aulacorthum solani; and as a plant defence stimulator in asparagus. 

(3) The Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) for scientific assistance. The Authority presented to the Commission a Technical Report on the substance concerned on 23 March 20213 . The Commission presented the Review Report and a draft of this Regulation to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed. 

(4) Based on the Authority’s Technical Report from 2021, the comments from Member States, the Authority’s responses to the comments from Member States and further additional information provided by the applicant to address the open points identified in the Technical Report of the Authority, the proposed new recipe for the basic substance Urtica spp. does not fulfil the criteria of Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. This recipe provides that the aerial part of the nettle is macerated in water and that yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is added to facilitate the fermentation. As noted by the Authority, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain LAS02 is an approved active substance pursuant to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2016/9524 . Since an active substance which is not a basic substance is added in this new recipe, the product obtained from the proposed new recipe should be considered as a plant protection product and thus falls out of the scope of Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. 

(5) In addition, the available information does not allow to conclude that the new recipe of Urtica spp. intended for use in plant protection as a fungicide fulfils the conditions set out in Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 as regards the approval criteria for basic substances, in particular with regard to the requirement that the substance has neither an immediate or delayed harmful effect on human or animal health nor an unacceptable effect on the environment. Insufficient information has been provided to finalise the assessment of the risk to operators, workers, residents and bystanders, the risk to consumers and to non-target organisms. 

(6) The Authority further concluded that the information provided to support the efficacy of the use of Urtica spp as a plant strengthener as far as it is within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, i.e. as plant defence stimulator, is insufficient. 

(7) It is, therefore, appropriate not to add the proposed new recipe and the extension of uses to the conditions of use of Urtica spp. 

(8) After Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2017/419 entered into force, the Standard PP 1/248 “Harmonised system for classification and coding of the uses of plant protection products” was agreed by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO)5 . The EPPO Standard PP 1/248 aims to provide a harmonized system for classification and coding the uses of plant protection products to allow consistent characterisation so that these uses can clearly be understood, compared and assessed across different countries. For reasons of clarity, it is appropriate to amend Appendix II of the Review Report for the approval of Urtica spp. as a basic substance in accordance with the Standard PP 1/248. Accordingly, the list of uses supported by available data should be identified by the EPPO codes. 

(9) Appendix II of the Review Report for the approval of Urtica spp as a basic substance lists dispersible concentrate (DC) as the only formulation type. Suspension concentrate (SC) as formulation type was inadvertently omitted from the original approval due to an administrative oversight. It is appropriate to correct this error by recognising suspension concentrate as a supported formulation type. 

(10) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,