EU Moves to Reorganize Renewal Timetable for Seven Low-Risk Pesticide Active Substances
22 October 2026, Brussels: The European Commission has drafted a decision to reorganize the renewal application timetable for seven low-risk pesticide active substances, grouping them with chemically or biologically similar substances so European regulators can assess them together rather than separately, according to the Commission’s proposal, which was open for public consultation from September 18 to October 16, 2026.
The substances affected are a mix of biopesticides, plant-defense stimulants and a molluscicide, none of which currently face a change in their approval status. Instead, the draft pushes back the deadline by which companies must file renewal applications, so each substance’s renewal process lines up with a related substance under review for similar reasons. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and EU member state rapporteurs handle these renewal evaluations, and Brussels has said grouping related substances is meant to streamline that workload rather than delay any substance’s eventual market availability.
The seven substances and their revised application deadlines are as follows:
| Active substance | Type | New application deadline | Grouped with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isaria fumosorosea strain Apopka 97 | Biological insecticide (fungus) | 18 April 2029 | Beauveria bassiana strain 203 |
| COS-OGA | Plant-defense stimulant | 28 February 2030 | Cerevisane, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain LAS02, laminarin |
| Cerevisane | Plant-defense stimulant | 28 February 2030 | COS-OGA, S. cerevisiae LAS02, laminarin |
| Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain LAS02 | Plant-defense stimulant | 28 February 2030 | COS-OGA, cerevisane, laminarin |
| Pepino mosaic virus strain CH2, isolate 1906 | Biological (virus-based) | 29 March 2029 | Two other Pepino mosaic virus strains |
| Ferric phosphate | Molluscicide | 30 September 2030 | Ferric pyrophosphate |
| Trichoderma atroviride strain SC1 | Biological fungicide | 31 July 2029 | Coniothyrium minitans |
The current approvals for these substances expire between April 2030 and July 2031. The draft decision falls under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, with Part E of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 686/2012 assigning rapporteur and co-rapporteur member states to each substance.
Separately, and on a related track, EFSA has opened a public consultation on a draft protocol for evaluating emergency authorizations, granted under Article 53 of the same regulation, for herbicides, soil fumigants, nematicides and other pesticide types not already covered by two earlier protocols (one covering fungicides and bactericides, the other covering acaricides and insecticides). Comments on the new draft protocol are due by November 3, 2026. EFSA’s own consultation listing confirms a live consultation matching this description is open, though the detailed consultation text itself could not be independently retrieved for this article; the specifics above are drawn from a dated regulatory summary and should be treated as provisional pending the Commission’s and EFSA’s final published texts.
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