Member States’ Discretion in Emergency Pesticide Authorisations: The Role of the EU Principles of Good Administration and the Precautionary Principle in Shaping Better National Administrative Practices

The misuse of emergency pesticide authorisations under Article 53 of Regulation 1107/2009 by EU Member States systematically undermines the Regulation’s core objective of prioritising health and environmental protection over improving plant production. The Member State authorities competent to decide on these authorisations lack independence and transparency safeguards and thereby frequently succumb to industry pressure, authorising pesticides without rigorous scientific scrutiny. With the intent to analyse how Article 53 can be realigned with the objective of Regulation 1107/2009, this article proposes leveraging the principles of good administration and the precautionary principle. To that end, it examines how the Court of Justice has interpreted and applied good administration principles to impose obligations of impartiality and transparency on Member States’ authorities when acting within the scope of EU law. Additionally, it examines how the Court has resorted to the precautionary principle to guide the discretion of national competent authorities towards higher health and environmental standards in the context of pesticide authorisation procedures. However, recognising the uneven application of these principles across national administrative systems, this article ultimately argues that the EU should translate these principles into specific measures.