Suggestion for an European approach for risk assessment for Pesticide Application Equipment in use to be exempted from inspection according to article 8 (3) of Sustainable Use Directive

Article 8 of Directive 2009/128/EC (Sustainable Use Directive) demands a risk assessment for human health and the environment including an assessment of the scale of use of the equipment in order to apply different time tables and inspection intervals in selected cases for the inspection of pesticide application equipment (PAE) in use or make exemptions from inspection within the Member States. The experts of the SPISE (Standardised Procedure for the Inspection of Sprayers in Europe) Technical Working Group agreed on their meeting in March 2015 to use the Zürich-methodology as an appropriate instrument to implement the demanded risk assessment in a harmonized manner within the EU 28. The article presents the last outcome of the discussions and an approach for risk assessment being applicable on an European level.