10.12.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 324/1 (Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is obligatory) REGULATIONS REGULATION (EC) No 1185/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 November 2009 concerning statistics on pesticides (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EURO- (20 Inits Communication to the Council, the European Parlia- PEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty, in the light of the Joint text approved by the Con- ciliation Committee on 10 November 2009 (2), Whereas: (1) Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme () recogn- ised that the impact of pesticides on human health and the environment, in particular from pesticides used in agricul- ture, must be reduced further. It underlined the need to achieve more sustainable use of pesticides and called for a significant overall reduction of risks and the use of pesti- cides consistent with the necessary crop protection. (1) O] C 256, 27.10.2007, p. 86. (%) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 March 2008 (O] C 66 E, 20.3.2009, p. 98), Council Common Position of 20 November 2008 (O] C 38 E, 17.2.2009, p. 1), Position of the European Parliament of 24 April 2009 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Deci- sion of 16 November 2009 and Legislative Resolution of the European Parliament of 24 November 2009. () OJ L 242, 10.9.2002, p. 1. ment and the European Economic and Social Committee entitled ‘Towards a Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides’, the Commission recognised the need for detailed, harmonised and up-to-date statistics on sales and use of pesticides at Community level. Such statistics are necessary for assessing policies of the European Union on sustainable development and for calculating relevant indi- cators on the risks for health and the environment related to pesticide use. (3)  Harmonised and comparable Community statistics on pes- ticide sales and use are essential for the development and monitoring of Community legislation and policies in the context of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides. (4)  Since the effects of the Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 con- cerning the placing of biocidal products on the market () will not become apparent until the first evaluation of active substances for use in biocidal products is finalised, neither the Commission nor most Member States currently have sufficient knowledge or experience to propose further measures regarding biocides. The scope of this Regulation should thus be limited to pesticides which are plant pro- tection products covered by Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (%), for which sub- stantial experience already exists on data collection. (4 OJ L 123,24.4.1998, p. 1. () OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 1.