Captan is in danger of dropping out of the picture as an active ingredient. In October 2022, the re-authorisation of the product was discussed in the meeting of the Permanent Committee for plants, animals and animal feed of the EU (SCoPAFF). The proposal of the European Commission is to restrict the use of captan to indoor cultivations.
According to the EU Focus consultancy, established in Brussels, there is a lot of resistance to the plan from various member states. EU Focus is of the opinion that during the meeting of SCoPAFF in January 2023, the European Commission could suggest to put the proposal to the vote. In the worst-case scenario, the proposal will be adopted and captan will no longer be available after 2023 to be used for field crops such as fruit growing. According to EU Focus, a vote in January is very likely, if the European Commission is not willing to adapt its proposal. Only if there is opposition to the proposal from a great number of member states, is there a chance that the European Commission will adapt the proposal.
In the re-registration of captan, not only technical, but also political arguments are playing a part, according to EU Focus. “To support the Farm to Fork strategy, it seems that the European Commission wants to take a number of important decisions with regard to the authorisation of products before the end of its session.” In other words: “In the next few months, decisions will have more of a political bias instead of being based on actual risks that make a restriction in use necessary.”
