Withdrawal of outdoor uses of metaldehyde overturned following legal challenge

This week we have seen a court ruling which has overturned the current revocation of Metaldehyde.

Taking the metaldehyde status back to pre-19 December 2018, the Court's order confirms that the applications for product re-authorisation remain outstanding, and Defra are required to decide afresh as to whether to grant re-authorisation for the products or to revoke the existing authorisations, in accordance with Article 46 of the EC Regulation.

What does this all mean?

The major European producers of metaldehyde (Adama &  De Sangosse ) will be very cautious to committing any new production of stock for the UK until they know how  DEFRA will respond to the court order. What we are anticipating is that DEFRA will correct their ‘paper trails’ which has led to the legal loop hole, and we shall end up with the same result.