AVA-Asaja calls in the European Parliament the EU legislation to correct its imbalances in the field of pest and plant protection

A delegation of the Executive Committee of Ava - Asaja headed by its President, Cristobal Aguado, has formally presented to the European Parliament Petitions Committee (EP) a series of requests, fundamentally, to correct the notorious imbalances and inadequacies which presents the current Community legislation relating to imports and exports fruit and vegetables. Linked to this same issue, the Valencian land organization claims, in addition, the aforementioned body of the European Parliament to take the necessary steps to get to apply more flexible than the current criteria in terms of authorisation of active substances and plant protection products with the aim to combat pests more effectivelySince continuing restrictions that are taking place in this chapter favor the emergence of multiple plant health problems and extraordinarily hinder their proper control.

Aguado, and ava-Asaja leaders this week have traveled to Brussels to deliver at the European Parliament in a comprehensive report that collects and details the undesirable consequences arising from the current European policies on issues as sensitive and strategic for the field of Valencia as the plant protection and surveillance at Community borders of the imports of fruit and vegetables from third countries. Requests in the aforementioned matters, contained in the report and submitted to regulatory through to the European Parliament, are based on three points. In the first of these refers to the need to revise the current rules on the use of plant protection in order to give farmers the tools to defend themselves against pests threatening crops and the re-emergence and proliferation has been favoured by the limitations imposed by the recent policy changes.

The second two points raised by Ava-AsajaA in their applications before the European Parliament make reference to the demand for a treatment that matched the provisions relating to import and export of fruit. In this sense, the Valencian land organization requires a toughening of the rules of importation of products of plant origin from third countries, a hardening which should be based on existing protocols in countries such as United States and Japan, which oblige the fruit that enters its borders to prove the compliance with requirements such as registration plots or inspections in the field carried out by its own inspectors.

Finally, the Agency proposed in the PE Community legislation to reflect the principle of reciprocity in the area of plant protection and imports. It is, in this case, all the commercial or productive agents operating in a market so following the same rules of game, so that in products of plant origin, whatever their originis not tolerated for pesticide residues in quantities greater than the limit that the European Union (EU) has set for Community production.

The President of Ava-Asaja, Cristobal Aguado, said that the interview held with officials of the Committee on Petitions of Parliament, who presented the document, "has been very positive and has allowed us to that they know our views at first hand." The machinery for the processing of these requests has already put in place and we must now wait events, but we are confident that our demands can thrive because what you are looking for them is that the cultivation and fruit and vegetable trade are fairerbalanced and consistent. We are asking for, in short, equal treatment. "We want that to the imported fruit and vegetable goods will apply the same requirements and criteria that we have to meet us when it comes to marketing."