European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF)
Because of the extensive data packages required for authorization to market plant protection products, growers face increasing difficulties in gaining authorization for “minor uses”. Minor uses of pesticides are uses on niche crops with a high economic value for farmers, but usually of low economic interest for the agro-pesticide industry. This leads to a lack of authorized products on the market for farmers to use on these crops which in turn can lead to illegal uses or to loss of crop production. These crops include most vegetables, fruit, nurseries, flowers, forest trees and some arable crops. It is estimated that overall they represent more than € 70 billion per year, which equates to 22% of the total EU plant production value.
To address this problem in a more coherent way the European Commission (EC) has established the EU Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF). The Facility started as of 1st September 2015 and is hosted by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) in Paris.
The mission of the Facility is ’to enable farmers in the EU to produce high quality crops by filling minor uses gaps through efficient collaboration to improve availability of chemical and non-chemical tools within an integrated pest management (IPM) framework’.
Initially, the Coordination Facility was jointly funded by the EU and the governments of France, Germany and the Netherlands. On 15 April 2018 the Grant Agreement with the European Commission expired. Since 15 April 2018 the MUCF is fully depending on voluntary assessed contributions from Member countries (EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland).
The Coordination Facility liaises with all Member States, growers associations and other organizations active internationally in the field of minor uses, such as OECD and IR-4 project. The Coordination Facility stimulates and supports further harmonization e.g. in relation to crop group and pest group definitions and is in the process of developing guidance documents.
The Coordination Facility is maintaining the European Minor Uses Database (EUMUDA) as a key structure to identify minor uses gaps, share information on them and cooperate to find solutions. The launch of the new EUMUDA took place on 28 June 2017.
The Coordination Facility is working on the development of non-chemical and IPM routes to solve minor use
problems together with Commodity Expert Groups. In that respect the Coordination Facility will establish a
strong link with research networks on IPM (C-IPM ERANET).
Recent News
The 21st Newsletter is available
As the Winter holidays and the end of the year 2024 draw near, the European Minor Uses Coordination Facility (MUCF) extends its warmest wishes for a joyous holiday season and a prosperous start to 2025.
Click here to access the 21st Newsletter of the MUCF.Subscribe to Our Newsletter !
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Upcoming Meetings organised by MUCF
| CEG Seeds, Spring Meeting 10 April 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| HEG, Spring Meeting 8 April 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| ReEG, Spring Meeting 8 April 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| CEG Ornamentals, Spring Meeting 27 March 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| CEG Hops, Spring Meeting 26 March 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| CEG Tobacco, Spring Meeting 20 March 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| CEG Herbs & Spices, Spring Meeting 19 March 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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| CEG Fruits & Vegetables, Spring Meeting 18 March 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe |
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Next Meetings to be attended by MUCF
| 3 to 4 February 2025 , Paris, France Comité Technique Opérationnel de la comission des usages orphelins (A. Martin) |
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| 18 to 19 February 2025 , Braunschweig, Germany PPPHI Symposium: Scientific Innovations & Regulatory Challenges in Biocontrol (B. Edler) |
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| 25 to 26 February 2025 , Remote Meeting , Europe Meeting of the Expert Group on BioPesticides (EGBP) (B. Edler) |
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| 27 to 28 February 2025 , Paris, France Meeting of the Working Party on Pesticides (WPP), OECD (B. Edler) |
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| 8 to 9 April 2025 , Zagreb, Croatia Annual eastern Europe regulatory conference: Future of plant protection products registrations (A. Martin) |
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Meetings attended by MUCF
See all our meetings