The Crop Protection Association (CPA) has welcomed a 12-week consultation launched today on options to implement new EU pesticide rules as a key opportunity to recognise and build on the high stewardship standards already in place in the UK, and to ensure a level-playing field across the rest of the EU.

The consultation, issued on behalf of Defra by the HSE’s Chemicals Regulation Directorate, seeks views on UK implementation of requirements set out under the EU Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, agreed last year, and associated measures under the EU Plant Protection Products Regulation.