Harmonised Risk Indicators

Among the objectives of Regulation No 677/2021 (implementing Directive 2009/128/EC) on the treatment of plant protection products is to protect human health and the environment from potential risks arising from the treatment of plant protection products, and to reduce the use of plant protection products. To be able to measure the success achieved in reducing risk, harmonised risk indicators have been designed as monitoring tools. Countries within the European Economic Area shall calculate the risk indicators and use them for national risk management. The risk indicators are also used to monitor trends in the risk. Two risk indicators have been designed, harmonised risk indicator 1 is based on the quantity of active substances placed on the market and harmonised risk indicator 2 is based on the number of emergency authorisations.

Harmonised risk indicator 1 (HRI 1)

Harmonised risk indicator 1 is based on statistical information on the quantity of active substances placed on the market in plant protection products according to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. Risk indicator 1 measures the trend in sales of active substances in plant protection products compared to a baseline of the average from 2011-2013. Active ingredients are divided into four main categories. Each category has a specific risk weighting factor that is used to multiply the quantity of active substances placed on the market for each category. 

• Category 1: Low-risk active substances (weighting factor 1) which are shown to cause less harm compared to other active substances.
• Category 2: Active substances that do not fall under other categories (weighting factor 8).
• Category 3: Active substances which are candidates for substitution (weighting factor 16). The properties of those active substances are often e.g. persistent or carcinogenic; therefore, they pose a greater risk compared to other active substances.
• Category 4: Active substances (weighting factor 64) that are no longer approved for use in plant protection products at EU level at the time of the calculation.

Attention is drawn to the fact that before the entry into force of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 in Iceland, which was on 1 January 2016, Icelandic laws and regulations regarding toxic and dangerous substances were in force. Consequently, different legal provisions applied regarding the placing on the market and use of plant protection products in Iceland before and after 1 January 2016. Statistical information about the import of active substances is nevertheless available for the years 2011-2016 and can be used to calculate harmonised risk indicator 1. 

Figure 1 shows that the risk indicator varies from year to year. These fluctuations can mainly be explained by the fact that products are being imported in large consignments, which are intended for sale for more than one year. Also, individual active substances can have an effect, as can be seen for the years 2012 and 2015, where large quantities of the active substance dichlobenil were imported. Dichlobenil is a persistent substance and its use in plant protection products is now banned at EU level. Another active substance that explains the high risk indicator for the period is the import of glyphosate. From 2017, the risk indicator is decreasing, and this is explained for the most part by significant decrease in import of glyphosate in the period 2018-2021. Harmonised risk indicator 1 indicates an 85% reduction in the risk to human health and the environment from pesticides in Iceland in the period from 2011 to 2021. The risk indicator has increased between the years 2020-2021 which can partly be explained by increased import of the active substances aclonifen, propamocarb and fluazinam.

Most agricultural use of plant protection products in Iceland comes from potato farming, where herbicides and fungicides have been the most widely used. The active substances aclonifen in herbicides, propamocarb and fluazinam in fungicides have been used the most. As it is known that the use of plant protection products in the cultivation of potatoes is considerable and regular in agriculture, which can lead to increased risks for human health and the environment, there is a reason to monitor the development of the use of active substances in this particular crop.

Harmonised risk indicator 2 (HRI 2).

Harmonised risk indicator 2 is based on the number of emergency authorisations which are granted for plant protection products according to Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. Harmonised risk indicator 2 is calculated by multiplying the number of emergency authorisations by a weighting factor for the different categories of active substances. The categorisation of the active substances is the same as for the calculations of harmonised risk indicator 1 and with the same weighting factors as well.

In view of the fact that Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 was not implemented in Iceland until 2015, with entry into force on 1 January 2016, no emergency authorisations, according to Article 53 of the regulation, were granted in the period 2011-2013 in Iceland. The baseline for the harmonised risk indicator 2 should be set to 100 and be equal to the average results from the calculations for the period 2011-2013. Since no emergency authorisations were granted in the period 2011-2013, it is not possible to calculate the baseline on which the harmonised risk indicator 2 is based. The first emergency authorisation in Iceland was granted in 2020.