Council agrees position to simplify and strengthen food and feed safety requirements
The Council today set its position on a part of the so-called ‘omnibus X’ legislative package in the EU’s simplification agenda. The Council’s mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament concerns, in particular, rules on the sustainable use of pesticides, records related to farming animals and the use of plastics in the food industry.
This omnibus X aims to simplify rules and procedures across the EU’s legislation, from plant protection products and biocidal products, to feed, official controls and animal health and welfare. The package aims to reduce unnecessary administrative costs and burdens, while maintaining the EU’s very high standards for food and feed safety, and for the protection of human and animal health and environmental protection.
“Today we deliver on the second proposal within the food and feed safety package, paving the way for simpler and more cost-efficient rules regarding the sustainable use of pesticides, record-keeping, and the use of plastics in the food industry. This reaffirms our presidency’s commitment to advancing the EU simplification agenda swiftly and efficiently.”
– Marilena Raouna, Deputy Minister for European affairs of the Republic of Cyprus
Amendments introduced by the Council
The presidency has treated the ‘omnibus X’ simplification package with utmost priority. Following the quick approval of the Council mandate on the proposed regulation extending for data protection periods regarding biocides on 4 March and the formal adoption of the act on 11 May, the presidency continued work on the remaining two proposals.
As regards this proposal, member states broadly shared this sense of urgency and, in that perspective, preserved the main thrust of the Commission proposal bringing amendments which would speed up the application of the directives in question even more.
Directive on sustainable use of pesticides
The current directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (SUD) prohibits aerial application of pesticides, while allowing member states the possibility to grant individual derogations from the above prohibition at the expense of a significant administrative burden for the professional users and for the competent authorities. The proposed amendments to the SUD aim to facilitate the use of drones for targeted application of pesticides which may present an equivalent or even lower risk than land-based pesticide applications.
The Council mandate maintains the existing derogation from the ban on aerial spraying in special cases, and the additional derogation, as proposed by the Commission, for certain types of drones, even if the conditions for special cases are not met. The text of the mandate further includes:
- new wording to clarify that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)’s mandate will cover guidance on both the risk assessment of the plant protection products (PPPs) that can be sprayed from drones, and the types of drones, their conditions of use and their related risks
- a period of 30 months for the adoption of the delegated act identifying the types of drones that can be used for spraying of PPPs
- for aerial spraying by vehicles other than certain types of drones, following the approval of an application plan, member states would have the possibility to dispense with the requirement for the separate approval of individual applications of PPPs, whereas such approval has so far been mandatory
- transitional measures giving member states the possibility to allow the use of drones until the above mentioned delegated act is adopted, provided that the existing conditions for aerial spraying are met and that the Commission and EFSA are notified within the 30 days after member states’ granting the approval of the use of drones, together with the risk assessment based on which the approval has been granted.
Directive concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes
This directive requires farmers to keep records of medicinal treatments given to animals and of the number of mortalities. However, similar record-keeping is required by the regulation on veterinary medicinal products and by the regulation on animal health (‘Animal Health Law’), respectively. The Council amendment eliminates this duplication.
Directives on basic rules for plastic materials
Two directives from 1982 and 1985 cover matters related to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. However, the same matters are addressed by an EU regulation from 2011. Therefore, the Council proposes to repeal these two directives to improve legal certainty and clarity.
Next steps
The presidency will continue the work on the last remaining proposal of the package, aiming for a speedy agreement on an overall Council mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the entire simplification package of ‘omnibus X’.
Background
In October 2024, the European Council called on all EU institutions, member states and stakeholders, as a matter of priority, to take work forward, notably in response to the challenges identified in the reports by Enrico Letta (‘Much more than a market’) and Mario Draghi (‘The future of European competitiveness’). Since February 2025, the Commission has put forward ten ‘Omnibus’ packages aiming to simplify existing legislation, including a tenth Omnibus on food and feed safety in December 2025. The ‘One Europe, One Market’ roadmap signed by the presidents of the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the Commission on 24 April 2026 in the margins of the informal leaders’ meeting in Nicosia includes the objective of concluding work on all simplification packages by the end of 2027.
