The European Commission met again to decide whether or not to extend the use of glyphosate as a herbicide, and its licence expires on 15 December 2022. After the meeting, it was decided that farmers will be able to use the product by the end of next year, 2023.

According to Portugal's Vida Rural magazine, the decision comes after member states failed to achieve a majority vote for the temporary extension of the leave, and at the time the European Commission had pointed out that it was "a legal obligation" to extend the deadline until the decision of the European agencies.

In the same scenario, the journal indicated that the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) wanted them to have completed their risk assessment by now, but EFSA revealed that it would not be able to complete the procedure until July 2023. This triggered the entire process of temporary extension. "In the case of ECHA, a committee of experts considered that it was "not justified" to conclude that the herbicide glyphosate causes cancer. The statements caused controversy," the magazine said.

By mid-November the committee had already met for the second time, with no result. A spokesman said at the time that "although most Member States support the Commission's proposal, the necessary qualified majority has unfortunately not been achieved." This means that it will be up to the Commission to extend the authorisation until the EU food and chemical agencies will publish their verdict next year on whether or not to grant the chemist a new EU approval.

Source: Agrolink