Survey 2019 on minor uses needs and priorities

In 2018 the EU Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF) conducted a survey to Member States (EU Member States plus Norway and Switzerland) on their minor uses needs and priorities. This survey was set up to prepare an overview of the minor uses needs and priorities of the whole European region. As a result, 25 out of 28 EU Member States responded to this survey, plus Norway and Switzerland.

The results are displayed in the EU Minor Uses Database EUMUDA. It is critical that the information in EUMUDA stays updated as this is the starting point to solve minor uses issues at European level.

On 16 April 2019 the MUCF has launched the "Survey 2019 on minor uses needs and priorities". This survey is based on the information already provided by Member States in 2018 and that is currently displayed in EUMUDA. It also contains the needs that have been added by CEG Ornamentals, CEG Tobacco, and CEG Hops. For the minor uses needs of CEG Tobacco and CEG Hops their "internal priority setting" is indicated in the "comments" column.

The MUCF has carried out Homologa searches for a number of minor uses needs (Homologa is a database that contains detailed information about authorized products and their uses).

National Minor Uses Contact Points are requested to respond to this survey by updating or removing existing needs and to add new needs.

National Minor Uses Contact Points will attribute priorities as follows:

  • Among all the needs for your Member State (updated existing needs and added new needs), select 50 minor uses needs as top 50 priorities for your Member State and assign a score of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to these most important needs (1= highest priority and 5=lowest priority).
  • Within the 50 priorities each score should be assigned to 10 needs, for example for score 1, there should be 10 needs, for score 2, there should be 10 needs, etc.
  • Assign a score of "x" to the other needs, that have no priority ranking.
  • Do not submit a "catalogue of uses" or "reference lists".
The way priorities are set can vary between Member States. The following elements can play a role in determining your priorities:

  • The acreage of a crop.
  • The economic value of a crop.
  • The dietary intake of a crop.
  • The number of solutions that is available for a minor use need. This can be none or available solutions that are under pressure.
  • The status of an active substance (expiry date, renewal, cut off criteria, etc.). Although currently a solution may be available the future of an active substance may be uncertain.
  • The number of modes of action that is available. From a resistance management point of view different modes of action may be required.
  • The number of times that a Member State has applied for an emergency authorisation (according to Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009) for a specific minor uses need.
  • Etc.
The National Minor Uses Contact Points from all Member States have been requested to provide their updated list of minor uses needs and priorities by 30 June 2019 to the MUCF.

The MUCF will then compile all the information and present the updated EU minor uses priorities for the autumn CEG meetings (end of October 2019).