The European Food Safety Authority EFSA

EFSA has a number of panels. The Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues (PPR) is about plant protection products. It deals with three different types of questions: 1. Questions from the EFSA (related to the assessment of compounds) 2. Questions from the Panel (self tasking) 3. Questions from the European Commission About EFSA and bees The centrepiece of the Authority’s work in this area is a guidance document on the risk assessment of plant protection products on bees (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees), which will be published this year 2012 (see attachment below). EFSA’s advice was requested by the European Commission in 2011 after members of the European Parliament and beekeeper associations voiced concerns about the appropriateness of the current risk assessment scheme. The guidance will be preceded by another important document: an opinion on the science behind the development of a risk assessment of plant protection products on bees, which will be completed by the end of April o