PAN Europe Position on Good Agricultural Practice

The Pesticides Action Network Europe (PAN Europe), the European umbrella organisation of NGOs working on pesticides issues, applauds the setting of standards by the European supermarkets joined in EUREP. This initiative reinforces environmental policy as outlined in the 5th Environmental Action Plan (5EAP) of the European Union which states that a "significant reduction in pesticide use per unit of land and a transition to methods of integrated pest control" should be realised. Supermarkets take their responsibility to society and translate this policy into methods and practices. Although we welcome the EUREP/GAP-standards, we consider them as a first step in a process going towards an ambitious environmental level of protection. In this letter PAN Europe and the co-signing organisations present ideas for a further elaboration of the EUREPGAP standards (we read the version of November 1999) and other improvements we think are necessary to gain full consumer confidence.