§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to discuss with his counterparts in other European Union member states the establishment of a pesticide policy across the Community. [65415]
§ Mr. RookerMy right hon. Friend the Minister takes the lead as respects agricultural pesticides; the lead on other pesticides (and biocides) lies with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Directive 91/414/EEC already provides a common basis for the regulation of agricultural pesticides across the Community. Until it is fully operative, the Directive permits the various national arrangements to continue. This transition, from national to harmonised regulation, has proved more lengthy than originally envisaged but the great majority of rules are in place for chemical pesticides and significant progress has been made regarding those for biological pesticides.
The European Commission has finally recognised that progress needs to be more rapid and last October produced a working paper proposing ways of achieving this. UK Ministers and officials will play a full part in discussions of the Commission's proposals and will seek to advance practical measures to make the Directive fully effective. However, we shall continue to maintain our first priority—the protection of people and the environment.