Court of Auditors criticism

Pesticides are not being reduced “sufficiently”

In its "Farm to Fork" strategy and biodiversity strategy, the European Union aims to reduce chemical pesticides by half by 2030. "The implementation of these targets has not yet been sufficient in Austria", criticized the Austrian Court of Audit in its report "Pesticide use in agriculture" published on Friday.

The ACA's audit covered the years 2017 to 2021. According to the report, however, the data situation was inadequate: although the Ministry of Agriculture publishes annual data on the pesticides placed on the market, imports of plant protection products such as internet purchases or cross-border imports by agricultural users were not included in the statistics.

Active substances that pose a health risk still in use
Furthermore, the quantities of active substances placed on the market did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about their risk to humans and the environment due to their varying toxicity. However, the ACA pointed out "that active substances were used in Austria for which health concerns were confirmed". In 2021, 32 out of 1798 samples of pesticide residue checks on food in Austria were found to be harmful to health or unsuitable for human consumption; two of these came from domestic production.

In Austria, "the independence of the approval and assessment body" was also lacking during the period under review. The national approval body for plant protection products in Austria, the Federal Office for Food Safety (BAES), is therefore "a subordinate office of the Ministry of Agriculture". According to the report, the BAES used the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) for the approval procedures "in terms of personnel and organization". "This company is wholly owned by the federal government. Mutual influences between risk assessment and risk management in the course of decision-making could not be ruled out," it said.

Emergency approvals of hazardous substances
In its report, the Court of Audit also pointed out the large number of emergency approvals in Austria compared to the rest of the EU. These included particularly dangerous active substances that are no longer approved in the EU. According to the report, there was a sharp increase in emergency authorizations, particularly in the period under review. "The auditors are critical of the development of emergency approvals, as this allowed stricter standard approval procedures to be circumvented," said the Court of Audit.

The Court of Auditors also criticized the fact that official controls on the use of plant protection products by the federal states are not carried out according to uniform standards. "Corresponding EU regulations were implemented in this country through nine state laws, each with different requirements," the Court of Audit ruled.

Politics now required
"We are clearly committed to integrated pest management, which means as much as necessary, as little as possible," the Ministry of Agriculture responded in a statement. "The aim is to sustainably optimize the use of plant protection and to secure the supply of domestic food. At the same time, we want to continuously improve. The recommendations of the Court of Audit, which are the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management, will therefore be carefully examined with a view to potential improvements."