COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2016/1424

of 25 August 2016

renewing the approval of the active substance thifensulfuron-methyl in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, and amending the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC (1), and in particular Article 20(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The approval of the active substance thifensulfuron-methyl, as set out in Part A of the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 (2), expires on 30 June 2017.

(2) An application for the renewal of the inclusion of thifensulfuron-methyl in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC (3) was submitted in accordance with Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1141/2010 (4) within the time period provided for in that Article.

(3) The applicant submitted the supplementary dossiers required in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 1141/2010. The application was found to be complete by the rapporteur Member State.

(4) The rapporteur Member State prepared a renewal assessment report in consultation with the co-rapporteur Member State and submitted it to the European Food Safety Authority (hereinafter ‘the Authority’) and the Commission on 17 July 2014.

(5) The Authority communicated the renewal assessment report to the applicant and to the Member States for comments and forwarded the comments received to the Commission. The Authority also made the supplementary summary dossier available to the public.

(6) On 15 July 2015 the Authority communicated to the Commission its conclusion (5) on whether thifensulfuron-methyl can be expected to meet the approval criteria provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. The Commission presented the draft review report for thifensulfuron-methyl to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed on 8 March 2016.

(7) It has been established with respect to one or more representative uses of at least one plant protection product containing the active substance that the approval criteria provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 are satisfied. Those approval criteria are therefore deemed to be satisfied.

(8) It is therefore appropriate to renew the approval of thifensulfuron-methyl.

(9) The risk assessment for the renewal of the approval of thifensulfuron-methyl is based on a limited number of representative uses, which however do not restrict the uses for which plant protection products containing thifensulfuron-methyl may be authorised. It is therefore appropriate not to maintain the restriction to uses as herbicide.

(10) In accordance with Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 in conjunction with Article 6 thereof and in the light of current scientific and technical knowledge, it is necessary to include certain conditions. It is, in particular, appropriate to require further confirmatory information.

(11) In accordance with Article 20(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, in conjunction with Article 13(4) thereof, the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 should be amended accordingly.

(12) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/549 (6) extended the expiry date of thifensulfuron-methyl until 30 June 2017 in order to allow the renewal process to be completed before the expiry of the approval of that substance. However, given that a decision on renewal has been taken ahead of this extended expiry date, this Regulation should apply from 1 November 2016.

(13) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Renewal of the approval of active substance

The approval of the active substance thifensulfuron-methyl, as specified in Annex I, is renewed subject to the conditions laid down in that Annex.

Article 2

Amendments to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011

The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation.

Article 3

Entry into force and date of application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the

Official Journal of the European Union

It shall apply from 1 November 2016.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 25 August 2016.

For the Commission

The President

Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1)

OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 1

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 of 25 May 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the list of approved active substances (

OJ L 153, 11.6.2011, p. 1

(3) Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (

OJ L 230, 19.8.1991, p. 1

(4) Commission Regulation (EU) No 1141/2010 of 7 December 2010 laying down the procedure for the renewal of the inclusion of a second group of active substances in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC and establishing the list of those substances (

OJ L 322, 8.12.2010, p. 10

(5) EFSA Journal 2015; 13(7): 4201. Available online: www.efsa.europa.eu

(6) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/549 of 8 April 2016 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 as regards the extension of the approval periods of the active substances bentazone, cyhalofop butyl, diquat, famoxadone, flumioxazine, DPX KE 459 (flupyrsulfuron-methyl), metalaxyl-M, picolinafen, prosulfuron, pymetrozine, thiabendazole and thifensulfuron-methyl (

OJ L 95, 9.4.2016, p. 4

ANNEX I

Common Name, Identification Numbers

IUPAC Name

Purity(1)

Date of approval

Expiration of approval

Specific provisions

Thifensulfuron-methyl

CAS No 79277-27-3

CIPAC No 452

methyl 3-(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-ylcarbamoylsulfamoyl)thiophene-2-carboxylate

≥ 960 g/kg

1 November 2016

31 October 2031

For the implementation of the uniform principles, as referred to in Article 29(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, the conclusions of the review report on thifensulfuron-methyl, and in particular Appendices I and II thereof, shall be taken into account.

In this overall assessment Member States shall pay particular attention to:

—	the protection of groundwater;

—	the protection of non-target plants and aquatic organisms.

Conditions of use shall include risk mitigation measures and the obligation to monitor the groundwater, where appropriate.

The applicant shall submit to the Commission, the Member States and the Authority confirmatory information as regards:

(1)	the absence of genotoxicity of metabolites IN-A4098 and its derivative IN-B5528, IN-A5546 and IN-W8268;

(2)	mechanistic data to rule out an endocrine mediated mode of action for mammary gland tumours;

(3)	the risk to aquatic organisms from thifensulfuron-methyl and metabolite IN-D8858 and the risk to soil organisms from metabolites IN-JZ789 and 2 acid 3 triuret;

(4)	the relevance of the metabolites IN-A4098, IN-L9223 and IN-JZ789 if thifensulfuron-methyl is classified as reprotoxic category 2 under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council(2) and the risk that those metabolites contaminate groundwater.

The applicant shall submit the information requested under point (1) by 31 March 2017, under points (2) and (3) by 30 June 2017 and under point (4) within six months after the notification of the classification decision concerning thifensulfuron-methyl.

(1) Further details on identity and specification of active substance are provided in the review report.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (

OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1

ANNEX II

The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 is amended as follows:

(1) in Part A, entry 26 on thifensulfuron-methyl is deleted;

(2) in Part B, the following entry is added:

Number