Article 1
Open ↗1. The Council requests that the Commission submit, as soon as possible to facilitate the ongoing legislative process, but at the latest by 28 June 2023 a study complementing the existing impact assessment of the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable use of plant protection products and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 on the following aspects: (a) the quantitative impacts of the Commission proposal on food production in the Union, in particular by quantifying the impact on agricultural yields for the main type of relevant crops and plant products individually, while taking into account, in the context of setting the national reduction targets, the specific conditions in the Member States, including different climate regions; (b) the analysis of the consequences of the Commission proposal on the food and feed availability in the Union, assessed on the basis of the main types of basic food and feed products, and of the possibility of increased dependence on food and feed imports for the main types of crops and the impact on export of food and feed products from the Union; (c) the potential impact on food and feed prices in general and in particular for staple food products related to the impacts referred to in point (a); (d) the quantified impacts of increased administrative burden on competitiveness and profitability of small and medium-sized farms; (e) the availability of alternatives to plant protection products and the potential increased risk of introduction and spread of harmful organisms in the Union due to the limited availability of alternative means of mitigating that risk; (f) quantification of the impact of banning the use of plant protection products in the sensitive areas as defined in Article 3(16) of the proposal, especially in areas used by the general public and in human settlements; (g) quantification of the impacts of the proposed restriction concerning the use of plant protection products on forest stands and forest dependent biodiversity. 2. The Council requests that the Commission propose any follow-up action justified in light of the outcome of the study.