The EU Uniform Principles for the assessment of plant protection products (PPP’s) require that if the preliminary risk characterisation indicates potential concerns, it has to be granted that "... under field conditions no unacceptable impact on the viability of exposed organisms ..." occurs. To date, such assessments have been made by conducting higher-tier studies.

The aims of EPiF were to:

• review available field monitoring studies addressing the environmental effects of PPP’s due to agriculture,

• compare observed effects of PPP’s under field conditions with the impact predicted on the basis of the current risk assessment guidance,

• identify requirements for future monitoring studies and the design for higher tier tests.