Since January 2021, the export of about 100 pesticides banned in Switzerland requires a permit. Dozens of hazardous substances banned in Switzerland would not be affected by the tightening law and would continue to be exported, Public Eye criticized in a statement.
According to Public Eye, about 90 pesticides banned in Switzerland and the EU can be freely exported from Switzerland and remain invisible to authorities and the public. Stopping this trade would require a full export ban and strict enforcement in Switzerland and at EU level.
According to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), active ingredients such as thiamethoxam, diquat, propiconazole and chlorothalonil, which have been banned in Switzerland for more than a decade and are also not approved for use in plant protection products in the EU, are allowed by the exporting companies on under their own responsibility without an export license and are exported without an export declaration.
The FOEN does not have export statistics for pesticides, as indicated on request. According to the authorities, pesticides whose export is not prohibited can, in principle, be exported from Switzerland in accordance with the provisions of the Chemical Risk Reduction Ordinance. For the export of pesticides with certain active substances, either a notification obligation or an export license obligation applies.
For example, according to Public Eye, the Bafu as a licensing authority has authorized agrochemical group Syngenta to export more than 10 tons of triasulfuron-based pesticides in 2021 and 2022. The herbicide produced in Monthey USA was destined for Algeria and Tunisia, where it is used in cereal cultivation.
On Friday evening, the Bafu confirmed on request that in the calendar year 2021, the export of about 10 tons of plant protection products containing the active substance triasulfuron had been approved on the basis of the legal provisions. The condition for the export was, among other things, the explicit permission of the authorities in the importing country to import the plant protection product.
(SDA)