§282 農薬散布用機械

The supplementary requirements set out in section 2.4 apply to machinery for pesticide application and concern the protection of the environment. The requirements set out in section 2.4 are the only essential health and safety requirements in Annex I that concern the protection of the environment – see §163: comments on General Principle 4 of Annex I.

The scope of the requirements set out in section 2.4 is determined by the definition of 'machinery for pesticide application' given in section 2.4.1. It is based on the scope of Directive 2009/128/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides. Directive 2009/128/EC only applies to the use of pesticides that are plant protection products as defined in the EU Regulation relating to the placing on the market of such products. Plant protection products include products intended for protecting plants against harmful organisms or for preventing the action of such organisms, for

Council of 21 October 2009 amending Directive 2006/42/EC with regard to machinery for pesticide application. OJ L 310, 25.11.2009, p. 29.

establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides. OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 71.

influencing the life processes of plants, for preserving plant products, and for destroying, checking or preventing the undesired growth of plants or parts of plants.

Currently, Directive 2009/128/EC does not apply to pesticides that are biocidal products. Consequently, the requirements set out in section 2.4 of Annex I of the Machinery Directive do not apply to machinery specifically designed for the application of biocidal products. However, Recital 2 to Directive 2009/128/EC indicates that it is anticipated that the scope of the Directive will be extended to cover biocidal products. In that case, the Commission will also examine the possible extension of the scope of the requirements set out in section 2.4 of Annex I to the Machinery Directive to machinery for application of biocidal products.

The requirements set out in section 2.4 of Annex I and the guidance given in this text, apply to machinery for the direct application of pesticides primarily in liquid form. However, section 2.4 and this guidance text also applies to dusters and granule spreaders for the application of pesticides in solid form where appropriate. For example, the guidance given (see §285 and §288: comments on Annex I sections 2.4.4 and 2.4.6) with respect to cleaning using water is not appropriate, and can be unsafe, for machines using dry products. Note that section 2.4 does not apply to machinery used with products containing pesticides such as pesticide-coated seeds.

The machinery subject to the requirements set out in section 2.4 includes self- propelled, towed, vehicle-mounted, semi-mounted and airborne machinery, as well as stationary machinery intended for pesticide application, both for professional and non-professional use. For airborne machinery there are currently no harmonised standards and care must be taken when applying the EHSRs, for example filling is mainly from dedicated ground stations not on the aircraft/sprayer, nozzle positioning is primarily to avoid spray getting into the aircraft wake, and nozzle/boom height adjustment is not relevant. It also includes portable machinery that is carried by the operator, such as knapsack sprayers and mist blowers, and handheld machinery, whether powered or for some manually-operated types that has a pressure chamber that stores the energy for spraying. Very simple manually operated devices without a pressure chamber, such as sprayers for houseplants where the spray is produced by direct application of the trigger, are not concerned since they are not in the scope of the Machinery Directive as they operate by direct manual effort– see §35: comments on Article 2 (a) – first indent.

The European Commission has issued a specific mandate for the development of harmonised standards supporting the requirements set out in section 2.4.. Currently not all types of pesticide equipment in scope of the Machinery Directive are planned to be covered (for example foggers, Controlled Droplet Application (CDA) machines).

June 2010.