THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS:

 strongly supports the binding targets to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and their risks; calls to significantly revise the Harmonized Risk Indicators (HRIs) approach so that, as well as quantity, toxicity in particular is taken into account in a decisive way;
 asks to expand the buffer zones to 50 metres for areas primarily frequented by vulnerable populations;
 asks for the establishment of a state fund that can help to foster the implementation and uptake of integrated pest management. The financial resources for this fund could inter alia be provided by a risk-based taxation on plant protection products, by contributions of retailers, or by penalty payments;
 calls for the National Action Plans (NAPs) to be submitted to the European Commission to carry out ex-post monitoring of these plans, supported by an independent expert group;
 calls on the European Food Safety Authority to review the efficacy of authorised pesticides on a very regular basis and to review authorisations as soon as resistance has emerged in the pest populations affected by the product;
 calls on the EU to fund research projects on the cocktail effects of pesticides on human health and on the long-term toxicity of pesticides in their full formulation prior to their authorisation;
 calls on the EU to ban the import of foodstuffs treated with pesticides that have not been authorised in Europe, the export of unauthorised pesticides and the sale and use of chemical plant protection products by non-commercial customers;
 calls on the Member States to take measures to ensure that producers who place any plant protection product on the market have extended producer responsibility;
 calls on the Member State to designate a competent authority responsible for setting up a system for notifying, recognising and fairly compensating occupational diseases arising from the use of pesticides;
 calls on the Member States to put in place comprehensive programmes to monitor the occurrence of residues of active substances and their metabolites in the environment, water, animals and humans;