Home » News » The Constitutional Council recognizes that “the protection of the environment” can justify “attacks on the freedom to undertake”

The Constitutional Council recognizes that “the protection of the environment” can justify “attacks on the freedom to undertake”


Harvest of strawberries in the province of Kenitra, in Morocco, in 2017. FADEL SENNA / AFP

In the fierce battle they are waging to continue producing pesticides in France which are banned in Europe because of their toxicity, the agrochemical giants have just lost a round, no doubt definitive. In a decision rendered Friday, January 31, the Constitutional Council has just rejected the priority question of constitutionality (QPC) raised by the Union of the plant protection industry (UIPP), which brings together Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and all the manufacturers of phytosanitary products established in France .

With this groundbreaking decision, the Constitutional Council recognizes for the first time that “The protection of the environment, the common heritage of human beings, constitutes an objective of constitutional value” who can justify “Attacks on freedom to conduct a business.

The QPC targeted article 83 of the Food Act (Egalim) of October 2018 prohibiting, from 2022, the production, storage and circulation of plant protection products containing active substances not authorized in Europe for reasons related to the protection of human or animal health or to the preservation of the environment.

Read our survey: Banned pesticides: revelations about intense lobbying by industry to the top of the state

Banned in Europe, but sold in Africa

Like atrazine, a weedkiller used in corn fields whose use has been banned in the European Union since 2003 because of its carcinogenic potential, an endocrine disruptor with deleterious effects on intrauterine development, many prohibited pesticides are still produced in France with the aim of being sold, mainly in developing countries, and especially in Africa. Section 83 aims to put an end to this activity, which poses a risk for exposed populations, but turns out to be very juicy for manufacturers.

The UIPP considered that the said article bore a “Excessive interference with freedom to conduct business, protected by the declaration of human and citizen rights of 1789”. For the union, which brings together nineteen companies, some of which are both producers of pesticides and seeds, the ban will “Zero health effect”, as it is limited to France and therefore will not prevent exports from other countries. It does, however, introduce a “Distortion of competition” to the detriment of companies established on the national territory.

“The legislator is justified in taking into account the effects that activities carried out in France can have on the environment abroad”

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