Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance imazaquin European Food Safety Authority

Imazaquin is one of the 84 substances of the third stage part B of the review programme covered by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1490/2002,(3) as amended by Commission Regulation ( EC) No 1095/2007.(4) Imazaquin was included in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC on 1 January 2009 pursuant to Article 11b of the Regulation (EC) No 1490/2002, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1095/2007 (hereinafter referred to as, the Regulation.). In accordance with Article 12a of the Regulation the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is required to deliver by 31 December 2010 its view on the draft review report submitted by the Commission of the European Communities (hereinafter referred to as, the Commission.) in accordance with Article 12(1) of the Regulation. This review report was established as a result of the initial evaluation provided by the designated rapporteur Member State in the Draft Assessment Report (DAR). The EFSA therefore organised a peer review of the DAR. The conclusions of the peer review are set out in this report. Belgium being the designated rapporteur Member State submitted the DAR on imazaquin in accordance with the provisions of Article 10(1) of the Regulation, which was received by the EFSA on 4 January 2008. The peer review was initiated on 7 January 2008 by dispatching the DAR for consultation of the notifier BASF Belgium S.A., and on 21 January 2008 to the Member States for consultation and comments. Following consideration of the comments received on the DAR, it was concluded that there was no need to conduct a consultation with Member State experts and that EFSA should deliver its conclusions on imazaquin. The conclusions laid down in this report were reached on the basis of the evaluation of the representative uses of imazaquin as a plant growth regulator in winter wheat and winter barley to prevent lodging, as proposed by the notifier. Full details of the representative uses can be found in Appendix A to this report. Data gaps were identified in the physical and chemical properties section. In the mammalian toxicology section no major data gaps were found in the context of the representative uses assessed. The consumer risk assessment for the representative use of imazaquin in wheat has been addressed by the available data. For the use in barley, residue trials are necessary to finalise the risk assessment (data gap). The data available on environmental fate and behaviour are sufficient to carry out the required environmental exposure assessments at the EU level for the representative uses assessed. The potential for groundwater exposure above the parametric drinking water limit of 0.1 mu g/L from these uses by imazaquin and the soil metabolite CL 266066 was assessed as low. No data gaps were identified in the section on ecotoxicology.