Regulation of glyphosate in Scotland: EIR release

Information requested

Concerns about the spraying of glyphosate in Scotland.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the Purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

The regulation of pesticides is an area devolved to the Scottish Government. Scottish Ministers have arranged for functions related to regulating pesticides to be exercised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on their behalf. Equivalent arrangements are in place for the other UK administrations meaning that HSE is the pesticides regulator across the whole of the UK.

An active substance, such as glyphosate, must be approved in Great Britain (GB) before it can be included in any product authorised for use in Scotland. Pesticide products authorised for use are tightly regulated and are subject to thorough analysis and testing by the HSE to make certain that they have no unacceptable risks to people, animals or the environment, before they can be authorised for use in Scotland.

Glyphosate is currently approved for use in both the EU and in the UK. In GB, glyphosate is approved as a result of EU legislation being adopted into GB law at the point of EU Exit. Glyphosate is currently approved for use in GB until December 2025.

The Scottish Government takes the potential impact of chemicals on public health and the environment very seriously and our position on pesticide approvals is guided by scientific evidence and advice.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.