53rd Meeting of the Panel on Efficacy Evaluation of Fungicides and Insecticides

Vienna, 2024-11-26/28

 

 

The Panel on Efficacy Evaluation of Fungicides and Insecticides met in Vienna on 2024-11-26/28. Special thanks to the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) for the warm hospitability.

 

The Panel continued its main task of developing Standards for conducting field trials to evaluate the efficacy of fungicides and insecticides.

 

 

Revised and new PP1 Standards

The following seven Standards were considered ready to be sent for country consultation. Four were revised Standards and three were new Standards:

  • Revision of PP 1/002 Phytophthora infestans on outdoor potato and tomato.
  • Revision of PP 1/048 Migratory root nematodes*.
  • Revision of PP 1/085 Thrips on arable crops in outdoor conditions.
  • Revision of PP 1/314 Evaluation of mating disruption techniques against Lepidopteran pests in grapevine, pome and stone fruits under field conditions.
  • PP 1/NEW Spodoptera sp. in vegetables, strawberries and ornamentals.
  • PP 1/NEW Spodoptera frugiperda in maize.
  • PP 1/NEW Weevils in sugar beet.

 

* Nematicides are covered by the Terms of Reference of this Panel.

 

The Panel also discussed a new Standard for Popillia japonica in grapevine and maize and agreed that more work is needed before it is ready for country consultation.

 

The Panel agreed that guidelines for efficacy evaluation for fungicides against air-borne and soil-borne fungal diseases of aromatic plants should be prepared.

 

Additionally, the Panel provided feedback on six General Standards of relevance for this Panel. The inputs provided will be considered by the EPPO Panel on General Standards for the finalisation of these Standards:

  • Revision of PP 1/296 Principles of efficacy evaluation for low-risk plant protection products (PPP).
  • Revision of PP 1/243 Effects of plant protection products on transformation processes.
  • Revision of PP 1/242 Taint tests.
  • PP 1/NEW How to perform monitoring of the sensitivity of pests to PPP.
  • PP 1/NEW Benefits of using PPP when used in a spraying programme.
  • PP 1/NEW Russeting.

 

The future work of the Panel was also discussed. The Panel intends to propose 16 Specific Standards to the Working Party in June 2025. Twelve on insecticides, of which nine will be revised and three will be new, and four on fungicides, of which three will be revised and one will be new.

 

The Panel was also updated concerning the latest news on the EPPO Database on Resistance Cases, the EPPO Database on PPP Data Extrapolation, the latter of which was published in 2024 replacing the EPPO extrapolation tables in pdf format, and the recent work of Minor Uses Coordination Facility.

 

The next meeting of the Panel will take place on 2025-11-25/27 (location to be decided).