Законска регулатива у области средстава за заштиту биља

Abstract

The use of pesticides primarily in agriculture has dramatically increased in the post-World War II period, and the number of active substances and plant protection products has been on the rise for many years. Currently 492 active substances have been approved for application in the European Union countries and several thousand plant protection products was approved based on these active substances; in our country 233 active substances and 926 plant protection products have been approved. It is estimated that the annual consumption of pesticides at the global level is more than four million tons, and in our country about 12 thousand tons. With the increase in the number of registered active substances and plant protection products and their introduction into use, the need for development of appropriate legislation has also increased in order to regulate all aspects of their application, from placing on the market, control of transport and application and monitoring of efficiency, defining of the maximum residue levels in food and feed, to the possible harmful effects on human health, non-target organisms and the environment. As a result of this pesticides today are a group of legally strictly regulated chemicals to which the principle of preventive risk assessment applies; this means that before placing on the market of plant protection products it must be scientifically proven that their application will not harm human health and cause unacceptable effects in the environment. This paper gives an overview of the legal regulations related to plant protection products in the European Union and in our country, with special emphasis on the situation in Serbia and the harmonization of domestic regulation with EU regulation. From this review it is possible to see how much has been done so far and which obligations we need to implement in the following years.