On 17 October 2023, the Belgian Council of State annulled the six decisions authorising the use of insecticides based on "neonicotinoid" active substances banned in the European Union, for the treatment, marketing and sowing of sugar beet seed, lettuce, endives, radicchio rosso and sugar loaf, and carrots, following the interpretation of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in a ruling dated 19 January 2023.

Two associations and a beekeeper had asked the Council of State to suspend and annul the execution of authorisations for seeds treated with clothianidin and thiamethoxam, which are banned in the EU (244.702, 249.843, 227.244/XIII-8.644). In autumn 2018, invoking the temporary derogation scheme set out in Article 53(1) of Regulation 1107/2009, the Belgian State had issued six authorisations for the use of plant protection products based on clothianidin and thiamethoxam for the treatment of seeds of certain crops, including sugar beet, as well as for the placing on the market of these seeds and their sowing outdoors. On 5 June 2019, the request for suspension was rejected. On the merits of the case, the Council of State referred the matter to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling in order to interpret Article 53(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009.

On 19 January 2023, the CJEU ruled that a Member State may not authorise the placing on the market of plant protection products for treating seeds, or the use of seeds treated with those products, where the placing on the market and use of seeds treated with those products have been expressly prohibited by an implementing regulation. However, two implementing regulations had banned the marketing and use, from the end of December 2018, of seeds treated with clothianidin (2018/784) and thiamethoxam (2018/785), except in cases where the seeds are intended to be used exclusively in permanent greenhouses and the resulting crop remains in a permanent greenhouse throughout its life cycle.

The Belgian Council of State has therefore ruled on the follow-up to this ruling. On the one hand, it points out that "the ban on neonicotinoid seeds meets the objective of Regulation 1107/2009 of ensuring a high level of protection for human and animal health and the environment; and, on the other hand, that the active substances clothianidin and thiamethoxam have been banned, the Council of State has decided to annul the "six decisions authorising the use of insecticides based on 'neonicotinoid' active substances banned in the European Union".

The Council of State also stressed that the CJEU ruling must be interpreted as meaning that the use of neonicotinoids to treat seeds intended for export to countries outside the European Union is also prohibited.