Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Norway cooperate on evaluation of applications for authorisation of plant protection products.

This cooperation is part of the implementation of Regulation No. 1107/2009. The purpose is to share the work and harmonise the evaluations.

A guidance document on procedures and evaluation principles for the North Zone has been developed.

In addition, separate guidance on risk assessment for birds and mammals and efficacy has been developed.

Applicants are encouraged to prepare a single dossier that just covers the intended uses in the zone and to harmonise GAPs as much as possible.

This will allow a ‘risk envelope’ approach to the assessment, whereby only the worst-case exposure scenarios for each area of the risk assessment are evaluated, with other ‘less risky’ scenarios being deemed acceptable.

The latest version of the northern zone Guidance Document has been updated on 24.7.2024 (Version 12) and is applicable since 1st of November 2024.

This 12th version brings change to the procedure before application, risk mitigation as regards to human toxicology, pesticide residues, section B8 (environmental fate and behavior), as well as changes pertaining to section B9 (ecotoxicology).

The Northern Zone Guidance document has been agreed by the responsible competent authorities in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

You can choose your preferred zonal Rapporteur Member States (zRMS) but ultimately it is the nZ Steering Committee that decides on the zRMS for your intended dossier.

It's very important to get in touch with them as soon as you know that you want to initiate the work in the zone. This first contact needs to be done with a pre-notification form.

Get in touch with us if you need help for that.