Renewal of the low-risk active substance blood meal

(1)

Commission Directive 2008/127/EC (2) included blood meal as an active substance in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC (3).

(2)

Active substances included in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC are deemed to have been approved under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 and are listed in Part A of the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 (4).

(3)

The approval of the active substance blood meal, as set out in Part A of the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 expires on 31 August 2021.

(4)

An application for the renewal of the approval of the active substance blood meal was submitted in accordance with Article 1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 844/2012 (5) within the time period provided for in that Article.

(5)

The applicant submitted the supplementary dossiers required in accordance with Article 6 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 844/2012. The application was found to be complete by the rapporteur Member State.

(6)

The rapporteur Member State prepared a draft renewal assessment report in consultation with the co-rapporteur Member State and submitted it to the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) and the Commission on 18 February 2019.

(7)

The Authority communicated the draft renewal assessment report to the applicant and to the Member States for comments and forwarded the comments received to the Commission. The Authority also made the supplementary summary dossier available to the public.

(8)

On 31 January 2020, the Authority communicated to the Commission its conclusion (6) on whether blood meal can be expected to meet the approval criteria provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. The Commission presented an initial renewal report and the draft Regulation regarding blood meal to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed on 16 July 2020.

(9)

The Commission invited the applicant to submit its comments on the conclusion of the Authority and, in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 14(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 844/2012, on the renewal report. The applicant submitted its comments, which have been carefully examined.

(10)

It has been established with respect to one or more representative uses of at least one plant protection product containing the active substance blood meal that the approval criteria provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 are satisfied. It is therefore appropriate to renew the approval of blood meal.

(11)

The risk assessment for the renewal of the approval of the active substance blood meal is based on a limited number of representative uses, which however do not restrict the uses for which plant protection products containing blood meal may be authorised.

(12)

Following the assessment by the Rapporteur Member State and the Authority, and taking into account the intended uses, no critical area of concern was identified.

(13)

As regards the criteria to identify endocrine disrupting properties set out in point 3.6.5 and point 3.8.2 of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009„ the conclusion of the Authority indicates that it is highly unlikely that blood meal is an endocrine disruptor. Thus, the Commission concludes that blood meal is not to be considered as having endocrine disrupting properties.

(14)

The Commission further considers that blood meal is a low-risk active substance pursuant to Article 22 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, given that blood meal is not a substance of concern and fulfils the conditions set in point 5 of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. Moreover, blood is a component of animal body and normally present in human diet.

(15)

In accordance with Article 20(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, in conjunction with Article 13(4) thereof, Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(16)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1160 (7) extended the approval period of blood meal to 31 August 2021 in order to allow the renewal process to be completed before the expiry of that period. However, given that a decision on renewal is being taken ahead of the expiry of that extended approval period, this Regulation should start to apply earlier than that date.

(17)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,