The National Farmers Union has heralded a Court of Appeal on pesticide imports as a significant victory for the UK's farmers and growers. Today's (November 9) judgement give greater flexibility on the criteria governing imports from other EU countries.

The decision was welcomed as a likely end to a five-year legal battle over the restrictions and limitations on parallel imports.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal stated: 'To require literally the same formulation for the parallel import would be wholly disproportionate to the needs of safety and thus an unjustified constraint on tradeS' The UK's Pesticides Safety Directorate will now have greater flexibility to issue licences for parallel products from Europe that meet its standards.

NFU vice president Michael Paske said: 'This decision will remove the unnecessary obstacles that have prevented farmers and growers from sourcing the most effective and best-priced products for the job.

'Farmers and growers need to be able to shop around to ensure the industry can compete. I am extremely pleased that the NFU's intervention in this appeal has scored another significant victory in our fight to help farmers do just that.' The NFU worked with the department of the environment, food and rural affairs to win the case against the crop protection association by providing additional arguments and legal representation in court.

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