Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance repellent by smell of animal or plant origin/sheep fat

Sheep fat is one of the 295 substances of the fourth stage of the review programme covered by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2229/20043, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1095/20074. Sheep fat was included in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC on 1 September 2009 pursuant to Article 24b of the Regulation (EC) No 2229/2004 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Regulation'), and has subsequently been deemed to be approved under Regulation (EC) No 1107/20095, in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/20116, as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 541/20117. In accordance with Article 25a of the Regulation, as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 114/20108, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is required to deliver by 31 December 2012 its view on the draft review report submitted by the European Commission in accordance with Article 25(1) of the Regulation. This review report was established as a result of the initial evaluation provided by the designated rapporteur Member State in the Draft Assessment Report (DAR). The EFSA therefore organised a peer review of the DAR. The conclusions of the peer review are set out in this report. Greece being the designated rapporteur Member State submitted the DAR on sheep fat in accordance with the provisions of Article 22(1) of the Regulation, which was received by the EFSA on 14 April 2008. The peer review was initiated on 7 August 2008 by dispatching the DAR for consultation of the notifier Kwizda Agro GmbH. Following consideration of the comments received on the DAR, it was concluded that there was no need to conduct an expert consultation and EFSA should deliver its conclusions on sheep fat. The conclusions laid down in this report were reached on the basis of the evaluation of the representative uses of sheep fat as a game repellent on deciduous and coniferous trees in forestry, as proposed by the notifier. Full details of the representative uses can be found in Appendix A to this report. For the section on identity, physical/chemical/technical properties and methods of analysis data gaps were identified for a specification and supporting data, a study on the microbiological quality control of sheep fat, and relative density. For the formulation, further details and validation data for the method of analysis used in the shelf-life study, and low temperature and accelerated storage stability studies were identified as data gaps. No critical areas of concern or data gaps were identified in the toxicology section. No critical areas of concern or data gaps were identified in the residue section. Regarding fate and behaviour in the environment, data gaps were identified for a sterile aqueous hydrolysis study, and an estimation of atmospheric half-life, which is needed to assess the potential for long-range transport to remote areas. Consequently the assessment of the potential for long-range transport to remote areas was not finalised. The risk to non-target organisms was considered as low. Data gaps were identified to submit a toxicity study on earthworms, effects studies on soil micro-organisms and information on the impact on terrestrial non-target plants.