Legal Opinion: On the de-identification exemption included in the draft Commission criteria for the determination of endocrine disrupting properties and the proposed exemption for endocrine disrupting substances on non-vertebrates under Regulation 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market

This legal opinion by the Center for International Environmental Law argues that the European Commission's proposed criteria for determining endocrine disrupting properties under Regulation 1107/2009 (Pesticides Regulation) exceed the Commission's implementing powers and are incompatible with the regulation's objective of ensuring a high level of protection for human and animal health and the environment.

• The European Commission's proposed criteria include a 'de-identification exemption' that excludes certain endocrine effects from consideration. Specifically, if a plant protection active substance is intended to control target organisms other than vertebrates via their endocrine systems, effects on organisms of the same taxonomic phylum as the target are not considered when identifying the substance as having endocrine disrupting properties regarding non-target organisms.
• The author contends that the de-identification exemption exceeds the Commission's implementing powers because it unilaterally modifies the conditions for substance approval. Since approval criteria are considered 'essential' elements of the Pesticides Regulation, they can only be changed via ordinary legislative procedure, not through the Commission's mandate to present scientific criteria for determining endocrine disrupting properties.
• The proposed exemption is argued to be incompatible with the aim of the Pesticides Regulation, which is to ensure a high level of protection for human and animal health and the environment. The author states that allowing continued environmental exposure to substances with endocrine disrupting properties for invertebrates contradicts this mandate.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2017). Legal Opinion: On the de-identification exemption included in the draft Commission criteria for the determination of endocrine disrupting properties and the proposed exemption for endocrine disrupting substances on non-vertebrates under Regulation 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ED-Criteria-legal-opinion-25sep2017.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Legal Opinion: On the de-identification exemption included in the draft Commission criteria for the determination of endocrine disrupting properties and the proposed exemption for endocrine disrupting substances on non-vertebrates under Regulation 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market. 2017. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ED-Criteria-legal-opinion-25sep2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Legal Opinion: On the de-identification exemption included in the draft Commission criteria for the determination of endocrine disrupting properties and the proposed exemption for endocrine disrupting substances on non-vertebrates under Regulation 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market |date=25 September 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ED-Criteria-legal-opinion-25sep2017.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2017legal, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Legal Opinion: On the de-identification exemption included in the draft Commission criteria for the determination of endocrine disrupting properties and the proposed exemption for endocrine disrupting substances on non-vertebrates under Regulation 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ED-Criteria-legal-opinion-25sep2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }