News

GN/2026/171
30 Sep 2026

EU Omnibus - Council agrees negotiating stance on MRLs

Following our previous circulars GN/2026/024 and advocacy efforts shared, the Council of Ministers today has taken its position on the remaining part of the ‘Omnibus X’ simplification package. The package aims to reduce unnecessary administrative costs and burdens, while maintaining the EU’s very high standards for food and feed safety, and for the protection of human and animal health and environmental protection.

Today’s position covers the regulation on maximum residue levels, the regulation on plant protection products, as well as the biocidal products regulation, among others.

The next steps are to wait for European Parliament to take a position on the text, start negotiations with three institutions with a view to reaching a speedy provisional agreement on the overall ‘Omnibus X’ package by the end of 2026.

 Main amendments introduced by the Council

The presidency has treated the ‘Omnibus X’ simplification package with utmost priority. Member states share this sense of urgency and have therefore preserved the main thrust of the Commission proposals.

Regulation on maximum residue levels (MRLs)

A maximum residue level (MRL) is the highest level of pesticide residue that is legally tolerated in or on food or feed of plant and animal origin.

The proposed amendment to the MRL regulation concerns residues in imported food or feed of certain pesticides that can no longer be used in the EU because of their particularly hazardous nature. Due to their intrinsic properties, the active substances contained in those pesticides could, for example, cause cancer, be toxic for reproduction or affect the endocrine system, or have long-term negative effects on the environment. The ultimate purpose is to no longer allow imports of products containing such pesticide residues and thereby maintain a high level of protection of human health and the environment, while also protecting the EU’s competitiveness.

In this respect, the Council mandate maintains the principle of lowering existing MRLs to technical zero for particularly hazardous substances following a prior impact assessment as proposed by the Commission. The text of the mandate also broadens the scope of substances covered, not only to substances with certain particularly hazardous properties, but also to substances whose specific conditions of use lead to unacceptable risks to honeybees or groundwater.

As originally proposed by the Commission, for products which were compliant with the previous MRLs (before their lowering), the Council mandate also maintains the possibility of setting out transitional provisions to allow that such products can continue to be placed on the market for a certain period of time, to avoid food waste.

Regulation on plant protection products (PPPs)

This regulation concerns the placing on the market of plant protection products, setting how PPPs are authorised in the EU.

To foster innovation and promote the development of sustainable alternatives to conventional PPPs for agriculture, the mandate foresees that biocontrol substances will benefit from a fast-track procedure, as they will be given priority for the assessment prior to their approval. At the same time, low-risk active substances and the PPPs containing them will be granted unlimited approvals and authorisations.

Moreover, for other substances and PPPs containing them, the approval periods will be extended to 15 years for the first approval and to 25 years for subsequent approvals, with some exceptions.

The duration of the protection of PPPs tests and study reports will be extended from 10 to 13 years for the first authorisation of regular PPPs and from 13 to 15 years for low-risk PPPs. These tests and study reports will be uploaded in a newly created EU-level database.

To counterbalance the longer approval periods, the text introduces stronger safeguards, notably through a periodic review of the scientific literature and available monitoring data by the European Food Safety Authority and a more cautious treatment of substances classified as 'carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, category 2'.

Biocidal products regulation

Biocidal products are used to protect humans, animals, materials or articles against harmful organisms like pests or bacteria, by the action of the active substances contained in the biocidal product.

The Council mandate maintains the currently applicable principle of approvals for active substances with an expiration date, albeit with a prolonged approval period, notably of 15 years for first approvals and 25 years for subsequent renewals. This is deemed as suitable and sufficient to address the structural delays in the review programme of active substances.

Feed additives regulation

The Commission proposal introduces several targeted simplification measures for feed additives. These include removing the systematic renewal requirement for most authorised additives, streamlining procedures for modifications to existing authorisations and enabling digital labelling for certain information.

Genetically modified food and feed regulation

The Council mandate builds on the Commission's intention to clarify that fermentation products produced using genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) are not food or feed ‘produced from GMOs’, while also introducing amendments aimed at ensuring a high level of protection of human and animal health, as well as the environment.

Among these measures is the development of Commission guidance on good manufacturing practices aimed at minimising the presence of residual GMM material in the relevant food or feed products.

Further reading at:

Simplification of EU rules (background information) 

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