The Government expedited the process of registration of plant protection products as called for CiU
on April 1, 2011
The Member of CiU has stressed the need to provide farmers with access to these plant protection products for the efficient and secure their crops with herbicides, fungicides or insecticides, to combat pests with ingredients of low toxicity and environmental. "These products are key to ensuring competitive crops", he said. But today, he added, there is a problem that makes it difficult to access to this type of product and is that you can not sell if they have not been previously. This last procedure, said the spokesman for agriculture of CiU, is excessively bureaucratic and rigid, which makes it difficult and delay their placing on the market.
The procedure is "very bureaucratic and scattered", points out, and causes Spain to be at the "head of the countries where more time it takes to register a plant protection product, 60 months (5 years), far from European competitors as United Kingdom with 12 months"", France 15 months, 17 Holland or Germany 30 months".
The CiU parliamentary has explained that this delay brings "economic damage" to the companies of phytosanitary products that make significant investments in r & d and have difficulties in marketing their products and on the other hand for farmers, who have to wait to leave the market a product that is vital to protect their crops. The delay in the marketing of health products can lead to loss of harvest, and it is estimated that the destruction of 1 per cent of the crop has an economic impact exceeding the EUR 79.5 million, without taking into account the minor crops.