Common EU registration rules and their effects on the availability of diverse plant protection products: A case study from oilseed rape and potato in 5 Member States

Five years on from when EU Regulation 1107/2009 came into force, the purpose of which was harmonization among EU Member States and to increase the free movement and availability of plant protection products, its objective has not yet been achieved. Differences in the availability of plant protection products in the Member States hinder equal competition on the common market. Therefore it is in the common interest of the European Union that these differences be reduced. Optimistically, there is a potential to increase the diversity of active substances and products for plant protection in these crops in all of the Member States analyzed.