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<p>If the UK leaves the EU without an agreement, the Government will retain the current
EU regulations on plant protection products with only such changes as are required
so that the regime can operate sensibly in a national context. Ministers will be more
accountable for decision making than at present as this will be their direct responsibility
(along with the devolved administrations), rather than being subject to voting by
all EU Member States.</p><p> </p><p>There will also continue to be effective scrutiny.
For example, there will be a formal public consultation process on each active substance
with full supporting documentation such as the draft assessment report published,
in the same way as there is under the EU regime. In addition to our national regulator,
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), we have put arrangements in place to ensure
that we have access to independent scientific advice from exit day from the Expert
Committee on Pesticides and we will continue to build on these arrangements in future.
HSE will publish its assessment reports online (less any confidential data). The Expert
Committee on Pesticides also routinely publishes its minutes online so its advice
will be open and transparent.</p><p> </p><p>The powers to extend active substance
approvals and product authorisations will be retained and repatriated to national
level, with no changes to the provisions setting out how they can be used. These powers
will therefore continue to be available under the national regime to be used where
necessary, as the European Commission has done routinely under the current EU regime.
It would clearly be inappropriate to attempt to extend approvals and authorisations
indefinitely.</p>
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