Update from the Ctgb
At the Dublin Biocides Symposium in February 2022, Dr. Cindy van der Meer, Account Manager for the Dutch Board for the Authorization of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb), gave an interesting presentation covering updates from the Ctgb on Regulatory Aspects.
Five years ago, the Ctgb became popular as a choice of competent authority (CA) in case of Union authorization (UA) procedures (hereinafter “eCA”). This generated a high workload, which delayed all processes, thus, the BPR deadlines were not met and, therefore, since 2018, measures have been taken to restrict the number of applications and reduce delays. The Ctgb’s goal going forward is now to receive between 10 and 15 eCA applications each year.
Even with 170 employees, the Ctgb faces problems with pending issues. Several reasons contribute to this scenario, such as the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, which increased the workload of MSs and the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in a strong increase in requests under the transitional law in 2021. That is why measures to reduce the inflow remain necessary.
NL has a national system for evaluation and authorization of biocides, and, therefore, Dr. van der Meer explained the system for streamlining application procedures. The application process consists of four phases: pre-application, validation, evaluation and peer review. It is important to notice that during the evaluation no new data can be submitted by the applicant, and in case of no agreement between applicant and eCA, the applicant can provide comments again in the peer review phase, otherwise, the submission will start over from the first phase and the process will slow down. In addition, the speaker gave tips to applicants to speed up the process, such as to prepare well before the submission begins, know the BPR guidelines and agreements, keep the application simple and communicate with the Ctgb project manager responsible for the submission.
If you need support with any aspects of the BPR please get in touch with Kerona’s Biocides Team at info@kerona.ie