Collectif des maires antipesticides v. Minister for Ecological Transition

463247
April 15, 2022
Final judgment
France, Paris

Local authorities
Collective of Mayors Against Pesticides (Collectif des maires antipesticides)
Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire (environment)
No description

Administrative
All
Annul the implied decision of the Minister for Ecological Transition to refuse their request for the adoption of new regulations on pesticide residues in the air and the establishment of limit values for the concentration of discharges.
Council of State of Paris, France

October 13, 2023
Negative
Reject the request.

On 13 October 2023, the Council of State rejected the request made by the "Collectif des maires antipesticides" to the Minister for Ecological Transition to issue regulations to protect the population from air pollution by pesticides.

On 20 December 2021, the Collectif des maires antipesticides, an organisation of local elected representatives (mayors, deputy mayors, councillors), former elected representatives, elected representatives of the Republic and community bodies, all committed to preserving the health of citizens within municipalities and territories, sent the Minister for Ecological Transition a request for the creation of new regulations specifically targeting the release of pesticides into the air, requiring in particular the development of concentration limit values for the release of pesticide products into the air. When this request went unanswered, the Collectif des maires anti-pesticides appealed to the Conseil d'Etat on the grounds of excess of jurisdiction.

In its grounds for dismissal, the Council of State noted that the scientific sources on which the Collectif relied did not deal solely with the risks of pesticide residues in the air, but also with water and soil pollution associated with the use of plant protection products and, more generally, with the risks associated with air pollution by other substances such as nitrogen dioxide.

For the Council of State, on the one hand, "[t]hese elements concern risks to human health that are different from those alleged by the applicants" and, on the other hand, there are already regulations in force concerning the pollution of water and soil by pesticide products. Consequently, according to the Council of State, "[t]he applicants do not justify [...] the existence of an unlawful failure by the State to take appropriate measures to regulate and protect the population against air pollution by pesticides".