Protecting the right to environmental safety due to the lack of control over the use of pesticides and agrochemicals
Case: Prohibition of pesticides and agrochemicals due to lack of control system
Region: Ukraine
Essence of the case: The establishment in Ukraine of control over the use of pesticides and agrochemicals
Essence of the problem: In Ukraine, there is a lack of proper control over the use of pesticides and agrochemicals, which leads to uncontrolled use of them, which adversely affects the population of bees, biodiversity in general, and causes pollution of soil, water and air.
Core facts:
International Charitable Organization “Ecology-Right-Man” addressed relevant information requests to the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agrarian Policy, Ministry of Health, State Consumer Service of Ukraine, State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine, to find out how to control pesticide use and agrochemicals.
The claim is based on the rules of Part 6 of Art. 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On Pesticides and Agrochemicals”, which require defendants to take specific measures and actions that were not taken in the current situation with adverse effects on the use of pesticides.
The law states that “in individual cases, in connection with the sanitary-epidemic and environmental situation in the country (region), the central executive body implementing state policy in the field of sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population, and the central executive authority, implementing a state policy in the field of environmental protection, may limit all activities with pesticides and agrochemicals until termination in due course.”
The unsatisfactory situation with the use of pesticides and agrochemicals in Ukraine is due to the neglect, and sometimes gross violation, of the procedure of keeping the agrochemical passport of the field. As evidenced by the documents submitted to the case files, the companies do not keep such passports, and accordingly, it is not possible to state unequivocally the need to introduce certain pesticides or agrochemicals.
In addition, the norms of the optimum ratio of crops in crop rotations in different natural and agricultural regions are not respected, which necessitates the mass use of pesticides because of the inability of ecosystems to deal with pests. (Resolution No. 164 of February 11, 2010 “On Approving the Norms of Optimum Ratio of Cultures in Crop Changes in Different Natural-Agricultural Regions”.
Also, responses from the State Consumer Service and the State Environmental Inspectorate state that there are no certified laboratories in Ukraine as of 2016 and 2017 that are able to check for pesticides in soils, air and plant and animal remains.
Therefore, the state cannot guarantee safety when using pesticides and agrochemicals, so EPL has requested to ban their use until proper controls are put in place.
The decision of the court of first instance http://www.reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/76001178
Second instance court decision http://www.reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/84854095
The decision of the court of cassation
More information on the case on request at office@epl.org.ua
