23^rd Meeting of the Panel on General Standards on Efficacy Evaluation

Bordeaux (FR), 2023-03-08/10

The 23^rd meeting of the EPPO Panel on General Standards on Efficacy Evaluation took place in Bordeaux at the INRAE research station on 2023-03-08/10. Special thanks are due to Mr François Delmotte from INRAE for the warm hospitability and organization of this meeting. Mr Delmotte opened the meeting and also arranged a very interesting and informative field trip to vineyards on the experimental fields of INRAE Bordeaux.

The Panel continued its work on the preparation of General Standards on Efficacy Evaluation. The meeting focused on development of new General Standards, plans for revision of two General Standards and discussion of outcomes of the Workshop on Adoption of Digital Technology for Data Generation for the efficacy evaluation of Plant Protection Products.

Field trip to the vineyards of INRAE Bordeaux

New General Standards

The Panel worked on development of the following new PP1 General Standards:

Principles of extrapolation in major uses. The Standard will describe the general principles to be considered when making extrapolations for major uses, including how to reduce the need for trial data, while maintaining appropriate robust data sets.
Resistance monitoring. The Panel worked on a General Standard describing how to perform monitoring of the sensitivity of pests to plant protection products.
Yield requirements. The Panel worked on two new general Standards in this area. The first one will describe guiding principles for when yield data are required for foliar and soil applied plant protection products. The Panel also discussed the second Standard which includes detailed guidance on when russeting should be addressed. Russeting refers to roughened, patchy brown areas which may develop on the skin of various fruits affecting the yield quality and may have significant economic impacts on crop. Application of plant protection products can contribute to the development of this physiological response.

The Panel agreed to further improve these Standards and discuss new versions during its meeting next year.

Revision of Standards

The Panel agreed to work on revision of two General Standards focused on undesired side effects of plant protection products application.

Revision of PP 1/243 Effects of plant protection products on transformation processes. The revision is based on recommendations from Panel on Efficacy Evaluation of Fungicides and Insecticides.
Revision of PP 1/242 Taint tests. The Panel agreed to work on the revision to discuss and possibly update the requirements for taint tests. The purpose of taint tests is to clarify if treatment with plant protection products causes any undesirable quality in the end product.

Expert Working Groups

The Panel was updated concerning the activities of the four EWGs working under its guidance: the EWG on plant protection product Resistance, the EWG on Harmonization of data for plant protection products, the EWG to develop an Extrapolation database and the EWG on the use of Digital Technology in PPP efficacy trials. The Panel appreciated the effort of these EWGs.

Adoption of Digital Technology for the Plant Protection Products efficacy evaluation

The Panel acknowledged the success of the Workshop on Adoption of Digital Technology for Data Generation for the efficacy evaluation of Plant Protection Products (Ede, The Netherlands, 2022-06-27/29) and recognized that it provided an excellent opportunity to share experiences and discuss difficulties related to making use of digital technologies in efficacy trials of plant protection products. After the Workshop an Expert Working Group was established by EPPO to prepare a new General Standard describing procedures for calibration, verification, and validation of digital technologies in the context of efficacy evaluation of plant protection products. The first draft Standard on digital technologies prepared by the Expert Working Group was discussed by the Panel.