Plant protection products are subject to a number of monitoring measures by various authorities at federal and state level. The control of the placing on the market of plant protection products is the responsibility of the federal government and is carried out by the Federal Office for Food Safety (BAES) on the basis of the Plant Protection Products Act 2011 as amended. The control of the use of plant protection products by the user is the responsibility of the Länder and is regulated by nine, partly different, Länder laws.
The term "placing on the market" is understood to include not only the sale of plant protection products but also their storage, advertising and other transfer. In the course of the controls of the plant protection product trade, it is checked whether the plant protection products offered are approved and properly labeled. In the course of the controls, samples are also taken by the control bodies for further analysis of the composition in the AGES Competence Center for Residue Analysis. In the event of gross violations of the provisions of the Plant Protection Products Act, the improper goods are seized and temporarily confiscated.
An annual control plan determines the number of farms to be inspected in the following year in accordance with a risk-based sampling plan. In addition, in the course of the follow-up inspections, those establishments that were the subject of a complaint or report in the previous year are inspected as planned and suspicion-based inspections are carried out.
According to Article 68 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC, each Member State has to submit an annual report to the Commission on official control measures concerning the placing on the market and use of plant protection products. Austria's annual reports are publicly available in the Multi-annual National Control Plan, as well as on the homepage of the European Commission.
Control Planning
The annual plan of inspection shall specify the number of sampling and/or conformity checks, the number of establishments to be inspected and the checks to be carried out. The planned figures are used to determine random samples and to take account of follow-up activities due to infringements from previous periods and capacities for ad-hoc activities.
The stated planned figures regarding sampling and/or conformity checks as well as the plants to be inspected and the plant inspections to be carried out and the implementation of the inspection plan were determined in agreement with the organisational units concerned, so that it can be assumed that resources will be available for planning purposes.
Control Report
The BAES Annual Control Report provides an overview of the control activities carried out by the Plant Protection Products Division from page 3 onwards. The representation contains the results in analogy to the fixed planning and therefore gives information about:
- Number of lots or batches checked by sampling and/or conformity checks and number of establishments checked and checks carried out,
- the main focuses set on the basis of current issues, and
- measures taken in relation to the results of control activities
Illegal plant protection products
What are illegal plant protection products?
Illegal plant protection products are products that
- do not have a valid approval or authorization in Austria or
- do not comply with the approval or authorization in terms of their specific composition
and are therefore not marketable in Austria. They may also not be used in Austria.
Above all, counterfeited illegal plant protection products - irrespective of whether they are counterfeit or stand-alone products - have not been tested in any evaluation or approval procedure and therefore pose a considerable and incalculable risk to human and animal health and to the environment.
Reporting suspected cases
What do I report?
You can report any reasonable suspicion of the placing on the market (i.e. storage for sale, sale, distribution but also a free transfer) of possibly illegal plant protection products to the Federal Office for Food Safety. We need the following information from you in order to be able to carry out further investigations:
- Which possibly illegal plant protection product is involved? Please indicate the quantity, trade name and registration number (if evident).
- Who placed the product(s) on the market, when and in what way?
- Additional helpful information, records, documentation, etc.
Where do I report?
You can send us information in connection with the placing on the market of illegal plant protection products either in writing or by e-mail. Please choose one of these contact options.
What happens with my report?
Based on your report, our staff will conduct further research and investigations and determine the further course of action internally in accordance with the resulting findings and taking into account the potential danger posed by the case. In order to substantiate the suspicion of the placing on the market of plant protection products that do not comply with the law, ad hoc controls or sampling may be carried out and result in reports to the competent district administrative authority, criminal authorities or in notifications to other authorities.
Will I be informed about the outcome of the procedure?
The employees of the Federal Office for Food Safety are subject to a strict legal duty of confidentiality. It is therefore not possible for us to pass on information about investigative steps, results of investigations or the outcome of administrative proceedings.
If you have any questions, please contact: baes@baes.gv.at
Reporting violations
If you suspect that regulations that fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Office for Food Safety have been violated, please contact us via contact form or
e-mail: baes@baes.gv.at
or by mail to:
Federal Office for Food Safety Spargelfeldstraße 191 1220 Vienna, Austria.
Note: The employees of the Federal Office for Food Safety are subject to a strict legal duty of confidentiality. Your information will therefore be treated in strict confidence.