These new conclusions update those published in 2013, after which the European Commission imposed controls on use of the substances. For the new assessments, which this time cover wild bees – bumblebees and solitary bees – as well as honey bees, EFSA’s Pesticides Unit carried out an extensive data collection exercise, including a systematic literature review, to gather all the scientific evidence published since the previous evaluations.

The team also applied the guidance document developed by EFSA specifically