Joint Statement of Food Chain Partner Organisations on the EU Food and Feed Safety Omnibus Simplification Package
5th May 2026
The food chain partner organisations listed at the end of this statement consider the EU Food and Feed Safety Omnibus Simplification Package as an important opportunity to improve the efficiency, coherence and workability of the EU regulatory framework for food and feed. As representatives of the agri-food value chain, we remain committed to a system that maintains the EU’s high standards for health, safety and environmental protection, while ensuring that regulation is science-based, proportionate, and supportive of competitiveness, food quality and innovation.
In this context, we consider that the current procedures for authorising plant protection products (PPPs) under Regulation 1107/2009 remain too lengthy, fragmented and burdensome across Member States, creating an uneven playing field with significant barriers to innovation and access to the full range of plant protection solutions, including both biocontrol and conventional products, which are all essential for effective crop and commodity protection.
The Omnibus must deliver – immediately after its entry into force – a clear and swift way forward for PPP authorisations at both EU and Member State level. We stress the urgency of the situation in the fields, where farmers have already lost many PPPs and, in some cases, are left without any effective solutions to protect their crops against insects, weeds and diseases. We are also concerned about the significant reduction of plant protection products available for crop storage. We therefore call for authorisation processes for all PPPs – including both biocontrol and conventional products – that are faster, more efficient and more predictable, recognising their complementary roles in sustainable agriculture and the urgent need to ensure access to effective and safe tools for farmers in all EU Member States.
It is widely recognised by policy makers and stakeholders that administrative burden needs to be reduced for all EU food chain actors, and across all levels of production. Clearer and more predictable legislative timelines are also needed. In this context, we again emphasise the excessively long average timeline from the beginning of the approval process to the point where users, including at storage level, have practical access to the needed tools, as well as the excessively long timeline from the beginning of the renewal of approval process to the point of renewal of approval.
Effectively applying and even strengthening harmonised approaches throughout the European Union (e.g. by extending the mutual recognition principle) will help remove internal market barriers and ensure availability of the full range of plant protection solutions within a reasonable timeframe. It is notable that for some applications, such as for minor crops and uses, the measures so far proposed are insufficient to provide protection across EU crops and to ensure competitiveness of the sector. Consideration should be given to extending the one-zone mutual recognition approach to other uses. A robust, science-based risk assessment and proportionate risk management approach must remain at the heart of the EU system. At the same time, regulatory decisions (especially the pace of withdrawals) and transition measures for individual PPPs must take into account and better reflect economic and technical realities. Without timely access to effective tools, producers, crop storekeepers and food processors face increasing challenges in maintaining efficient, sustainable and competitive crop and food production both within the EU, and in the context of the competitive global market. A proportionate approach, taking into account the efficacy and sustainability aspects in addition to the assessment of risks, is needed to avoid unintended loss of essential tools and support the viability of agricultural production and food supply chains.
We further underline the importance of predictability and legal certainty for operators. Longer and more flexible grace periods (including the possibility to renew or extend grace periods), clearer definitions of key concepts and consideration of more stable approval frameworks can help ensure continuity for farmers and the wider food chain while allowing farmers to effectively manage their immediate crop protection needs. We stress the principle: the full toolbox must be maintained for EU producers, and there should be no more phase-out of active substances and plant protection products thereof without viable alternatives having become available to growers.
The Omnibus must support an acceleration in the availability of the tools needed to support innovation, including enabling use of agricultural drones, where economically and environmentally feasible. Clear, harmonised and workable rules are needed to unlock this potential and support their safe deployment for more targeted and sustainable use of inputs.
In addition, we welcome stronger scientific support at EU level, namely the more effective involvement of the European Food Safety Authority, provided that this complements rather than replaces Member State responsibilities, and contributes to efficiency without creating additional procedural bottlenecks, complexity or delays.
Finally, we emphasise the importance of streamlining plant protection reporting and record keeping requirements to ensure they are manageable, and digital tools can help with this objective. Greater clarity in the implementation of transitional measures and legal provisions is also essential to ensure an adequate environment fit for production across the food chain.
As negotiations progress, the food chain partner organisations listed below will continue to engage with the EU institutions to help ensure that the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus delivers a more coherent, efficient and workable regulatory framework that supports sustainable production, competitiveness, innovation and food chain resilience.
For more information, see the statement HERE.
