The new Plant Protection Law is a working institutional tool for optimizing the business environment

In the "final hour" of the 42nd National Assembly's existence, the new Plant Protection Law (PPL) was adopted, awaited with great attention, hope, and interest by the agrochemical industry and agribusiness. I discuss its profile, philosophy, key competencies, and priority directions with Mr. PLAMEN LAZAROV, Deputy Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA), "Plant Protection" sector, head of the expert working team that created this wide-ranging document.

[PZ] Mr. Lazarov, what was the main argument for initiating and accumulating such high activity and creative energy for the creation of a new Plant Protection Law? Such an atmosphere suggests that there are ideas and a need to reform the national system for guaranteeing the health status of agricultural crops, if I may allow myself such a categorical assessment...

In short: the repealed law was in glaring contradiction with EC Regulation 1107/2009. The said Regulation is applied directly by the member states of the European Union, but in our country, such a thing was not possible under the conditions of the existing procedural and legal order. A qualitative legislative change was necessary! A new law and ordinances for its application, which would argue and regulate the behavioral aspects of all participants in this special sector of key importance for risk management in agricultural production from weeds, diseases, and pests. In other words: it was urgently necessary, at high speed, to regulate the activities which the mentioned Regulation does not arrange. There is nothing to wonder about! The Regulation is a basic product and in most cases does not always mark the order for carrying out individual practices. It formulates the conditions, not the order for their execution.

[PZ] I would ask you to support this statement with specifics

The Regulation, for example, in a very general form—it could not be otherwise—refers to the parameters of the super important activity—trade in Plant Protection Products (PPPs). There is no wording on what conditions trading companies must meet to carry out this activity. This we are obliged to regulate with an Ordinance, whose mission is specifics down to the last detail, reflecting the specific features of our national plant protection system. The new Law, I dare say, achieves another goal. It facilitates to the maximum extent the dialogue, relationships, and contacts between the administration and business. The ultimate goal is to untie the hands of business within the legal framework. Thus, for example, certificates for trade in PPPs are now issued by the regional directorates of the BFSA, thereby decentralizing the activity, reducing bureaucracy, and easing business.

You can read the entire interview in issue 10/2014 of the magazine "Plant Protection, Seeds & Fertilizers".