Elected Officials v. the law relating to the conditions for placing pesticides on the market

Reference :

2020-809 DC

Complaint date :

November 10, 2020

Status :

Final judgment

Place of jurisdiction :

France, Paris

Plaintiffs types :

Politicians

Plaintiffs names :

Députies (84), Sénators

Defendants :

State

Lawyers for Health and Environmental Justice :

François Lafforgue, Clémentine Baldon, Bernard Fau, Laure Abramowitch, Sébastien Mabile, Didier Supplisson, Corinne Lepage

Case nature :

Constitutional

Specificities :

Direct action of unconstitutionality

Type(s), Product(s), Active substance(s) :

, Neonicotinoid, Imidacloprid, Thiamethoxam, Clothianidin, Acetamiprid, Thiacloprid

Requests :

Invalidate the unconstitutional provisions of the draft law "on the conditions for placing certain plant protection products on the market in the event of a health hazard for sugar beet".

Name of the Court :

Constitutional Court of Paris, France

Jurisdiction level :

Decision date :

December 10, 2020

Decision nature :

Negative

Decision content :

The Constitutional Council considers the possibility of derogating from the ban on the use of plant protection products containing neonicotinoids to be in conformity with the Constitution, taking into account all the guarantees it provides and in particular its limited application exclusively until 1 July 2023.

Legal basis :

Court Ruling :

Link to the ruling

Summary :

Derogation from the ban on neonicotinoids. The law on the conditions for placing certain plant protection products on the market in case of health hazard by the National Assembly on October 30 and by the Senate on November 4, 2020, provides for the possibility to derogate from the definitive ban on the use of plant protection products containing substances of the neonicotinoid family. Opposition deputies and senators are referring the matter to the Constitutional Council because they believe that this law is clearly contrary to several principles of constitutional value, in particular the principle of non-regression. NGOs Générations Futures, Terre d'Abeilles, Syndicat National d'Apiculture (SNA), Fondation Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l'Homme (FNH), Union Nationale de l'Apiculture Française (UNAF), Collectif des maires anti-pesticides produce external contributions in support of this referral (voie de la Porte Etroite). On 12/10/2020, the Constitutional Council rules that the possibility of derogating from the ban on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides is in accordance with the Constitution. NGOs indicate that they are considering other legal options.

Scientific references :

Uptake, translocation and metabolism of imidacloprid in plants
Suivi d’abeilles domestiques et de pollinisateurs indigènes lors des semis de cultures traitées aux néonicotinoïdes, Mémoire Maîtrise Biologie Végétale
Leaching of the Neonicotinoids Thiamethoxam and Imidacloprid from Sugar Beet Seed Dressings to Subsurface Tile Drains
Investigations on neonicotinoids in guttation fluid of seed treated sugar beet: Frequency, residue levels and discussion of the potential risk to honey bees
Neonicotinoids in sugar beet cultivation in Central and Northern Europe: Efficacy and environmental impact of neonicotinoid seed treatments and alternative measures
Field-level clothianidin exposure affects bumblebees but generally not their pathogens
Effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on non-target invertebrates
Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Impact of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Environmental fate and exposure; neonicotinoids and fipronil
Systemic insecticides (neonicotinoids and fipronil): trends, uses, mode of action and metabolites
More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas
Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers
Effects of Neonicotinoid Pesticide Exposure on Human Health: A Systematic Review
Residues of currently used pesticides in soils and earthworms: A silent threat?
Comparative acute toxicity of twenty-four insecticides to earthworm, Eisenia fetida
Effects of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on Physiology and Reproductive Characteristics of Captive Female and Fawn White-tailed Deer
LC-ESI/MS/MS analysis of neonicotinoids in urine of very low birth weight infants at birth
Resolving the twin human and environmental health hazards of a plant-based diet
The neonicotinoid insecticide Clothianidin adversely affects immune signaling in a human cell line
Discrepancy between acute and chronic toxicity induced by imidacloprid and its metabolites in Apis mellifera
Modes of honeybees exposure to systemic insecticides: estimated amounts of contaminated pollen and nectar consumed by different categories of bees
Behaviour of Imidacloprid in Fields. Toxicity for Honey Bees
Expert explanations of honeybee losses in areas of extensive agriculture in France: Gaucho compared with other supposed causal factors
A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success and Survival in Honey Bees
Evidence for decline in eastern North American bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special focus on Bombus affinis Cresson
Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production
Field realistic doses of pesticide imidacloprid reduce bumblebee pollen foraging efficiency
Neonicotinoids impact bumblebee colony fitness in the field; a reanalysis of the UK’s Food & Environment Research Agency 2012 experiment
Non-cultivated plants present a season-long route of pesticide exposure for honey bees
A review of the direct and indirect effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on vertebrate wildlife