Danish National Action Plan on Pesticides 2017 – 2021.

This Danish National Action Plan on Pesticides 2017 – 2021 is a cross-sectoral policy document at the national level. The objective is to obtain a low level of pesticide use, and to use the pesticides causing lowest load.
The Plan seeks to ensure a reasonable balance between the interests of agriculture and protection of the environment. The Plan includes a large number of different initiatives that will contribute in different ways to curbing consumption of high-load pesticides. It has four main areas: 1. Authorisation of pesticides; 2. Targeted inspection efforts; 3. Collection of knowledge via the Pesticide Research Programme; 4. Information, advice and guidance. The initiatives proposed in the Plan regarding to the authorisation of pesticides include: 1. Give priority to rapid case processing, so that new pesticides that meet the requirements for authorisation can be made available on the Danish market as quickly as possible. This will improve competitive conditions and help prevent the development of resistance. 2. Implement necessary changes to existing authorisations quickly. 3. Continue to provide support to develop alternative pesticides, e.g. for use in organic production. 4. Continue to test authorised pesticides in PLAP and ensure quick follow-up when limit values for groundwater have been exceeded. 5 Regularly adjust the Danish assessment principles in accordance with EU guidance (except for in the area of groundwater) for authorisation of pesticides, so that new knowledge is included to protect the environment and health, and so that the agriculture sector can use pesticides that do not pose a risk. 6. Ensure that pesticides used at greenhouses are managed in a way that does not pose a risk to the environment. The Plan promotes to reinforce groundwater protection against pesticides in well vicinity protection zones by introducing a ban on filling and mixing pesticides and cleaning of pesticide sprayers in well vicinity protection zones.
The Plan contributes to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. The Plan proposes to earmark funds for research on health effects and continue to expand the virtues of good agricultural practice, thus maintaining focus on using as low amounts of pesticides as possible, and as intelligently as possible. The Plan also seeks to ensure focused and risk-based control of users and distributors as well as food products. For food, in the framework of EU efforts within pesticide approval, the Danish Government will: 1. Ensure targeted Danish influence on the work conducted in the EU, e.g. in connection with the preparation of guidelines, approval of active substances and establishment of maximum residue levels (MRLs) for food. 2. Work proactively to ensure that MRLs for food are as low as possible, without compromising the effectiveness of the pesticides. 3. Continue to ensure that the assessment of pesticide residues in food takes into account possible effects of pesticides in combination. Continue to have animal feed crops incorporated in the Annex to the Pesticides Residues Regulation, in order to be able to set maximum residues levels for fodder crops.