Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme (3) recognised that the impact of pesticides on human health and the environment, in particular from pesticides used in agriculture, must be reduced further. It underlined the need to achieve more sustainable use of pesticides and called for a significant overall reduction of risks and the use of pesticides consistent with the necessary crop protection.
(2)
In its Communication to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee entitled ‘Towards a Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides’, the Commission recognised the need for detailed, harmonised and up-to-date statistics on sales and use of pesticides at Community level. Such statistics are necessary for assessing policies of the European Union on sustainable development and for calculating relevant indicators on the risks for health and the environment related to pesticide use.
(3)
Harmonised and comparable Community statistics on pesticide sales and use are essential for the development and monitoring of Community legislation and policies in the context of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides.
(4)
Since the effects of the Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market (4) will not become apparent until the first evaluation of active substances for use in biocidal products is finalised, neither the Commission nor most Member States currently have sufficient knowledge or experience to propose further measures regarding biocides. The scope of this Regulation should thus be limited to pesticides which are plant protection products covered by Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (5), for which substantial experience already exists on data collection.
(5)
However, it is anticipated that, taking into account the results of the evaluation of Directive 98/8/EC and on the basis of an impact assessment, the scope of this Regulation will be extended to cover biocidal products.
(6)
The experience of the Commission in collecting data on sales and use of pesticides over many years has demonstrated the need to have a harmonised methodology for collecting statistics at Community level both from the stage of placing on the market and from users. Moreover, in view of the aim of calculating accurate risk indicators in accordance with the objectives of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, statistics need to be detailed up to the level of the active substances.
(7)
Among the different data collection options evaluated in the impact assessment of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, mandatory data collection was recommended as the best option because it would allow the development of accurate and reliable data on the placing on the market and use of pesticides quickly and cost-efficiently.
(8)
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (6) constitutes the reference framework for the provisions of this Regulation, requiring, in particular, conformity to standards of professional independence, impartiality, objectivity, reliability, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.
(9)
The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Measures which are taken in accordance with that Regulation ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and ensure that no unlawful disclosure and non-statistical use occur when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.
(10)
The publication and dissemination of data collected under this Regulation is governed by the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Measures which are taken in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and ensure that no unlawful disclosure and non-statistical use occur when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.
(11)
Data regarding the placing on the market and use of pesticides to be submitted pursuant to Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides (7) and Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 should be assessed in accordance with the relevant provisions of that Directive and of that Regulation.
(12)
This Regulation should apply without prejudice to Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information (8) and to Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies (9).
(13)
To ensure comparable results, statistics on pesticides should be produced in accordance with a specified breakdown, in an appropriate form and within a fixed period of time from the end of a reference year as defined in the Annexes of this Regulation.
(14)
The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (10).
(15)
In particular the Commission should be empowered to define the area treated and to adapt Annex III. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia, by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.
(16)
Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on the placing on the market and use of pesticides, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(17)
The Statistical Programme Committee, established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (11), has been consulted,
