The first EU country to ban glyphosate in 2020, Luxembourg will reauthorize the marketing of products based on the herbicide after a cancellation by the Grand Duchy’s justice.
Luxembourg announced on Monday that it was reauthorizing the marketing of glyphosate-based products, after being the first EU country in 2020 to ban this controversial herbicide, a ban overturned by the Grand Duchy’s justice.
On February 1, 2020, the country withdrew the marketing authorization for glyphosate-based plant protection products, while tolerating the disposal of existing stocks, before completely banning their use on Luxembourg soil from January 1. 2021.
“No scientific element”
The ban was overturned by a ruling on appeal by the Administrative Court of Luxembourg on Friday. The judges pointed to “the absence of indication of any legal argument” to ban the 8 products concerned in contradiction with the legal regime of the EU which allowed their distribution.
“The cancellation has the consequence that the authorizations for the plant protection products in question are restored from the date of the delivery of the judgment”, reacted Monday the Luxembourg Ministry of Agriculture.
“The Court confirmed that the withdrawal (of market authorizations) violated European law”, welcomed the German chemicals giant Bayer, which had filed an appeal before the administrative courts against the ban on its products, in particular its Roundup brand.
“This withdrawal was not based on any scientific or regulatory element incriminating glyphosate or products based on this substance,” reacted a spokesperson for the group to AFP.
Prolongation d’un an
The European Commission decided at the beginning of December to extend by one year, until December 15, 2023, the current authorization of glyphosate in the EU, already renewed in 2017 for five years, pending a scientific evaluation by the European regulators.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) plans to submit a long-awaited study in July 2023 on “the risks of exposure to glyphosate for animals, humans and the environment”, deemed essential to decide on the extension. or not, for five additional years, of the authorization issued to the herbicide.
The government of Luxembourg, a small state of 645,000 inhabitants located between Germany, Belgium and France, banned glyphosate following a political agreement reached in 2018 by the ruling coalition – a first in the EU . Austria had once planned to ban it from the start of 2020 before backtracking.
The government of the Grand Duchy assured at the start of 2020 that nearly 60% of Luxembourg farms had already given up glyphosate, even before the ban was put in place.
