Pesticides: Regulation

(asked on 1st September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government's policy on trade negotiations allows the devolved nations to introduce stricter measures on protecting human health and the environment from pesticides.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 9th September 2020

Our trade agreements will respect the regulatory autonomy of the Parties and decisions on standards remain a matter for the UK Government and devolved administrations, including on pesticides.

Decisions on which pesticides can be authorised for marketing and use in each part of the UK are already within the competence of each devolved administration.

We will maintain our high human health and environmental standards when operating our own independent pesticides regulatory regime, after the transition period. We will ensure decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment and will not authorise pesticides that may carry unacceptable risks. The statutory requirements of the EU regime on standards of protection will be carried across unchanged into domestic law.

This Government is clear that in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.

Reticulating Splines