The Appeals Committee was voting on a proposal to extend the current approval of glyphosate for a limited period of time, until an opinion on the substance is given by the European Agency for Chemical Products (ECHA).

In legal terms the ECHA has the final say in terms of the safety or otherwise of the herbicide ingredient and it is expected to table its report within the next 18 months.

However, there was no qualified majority vote (QMV) either for or against the reauthorisation of glyphosate by the Appeals Committee this week. QMV requires 55% of countries representing 65% of the EU population to adopt or reject a proposal in order for it to stand.

The failure to see a qualified majority vote either for or against the reauthorisation follows a similar failed vote among the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed earlier in June.

The current authorisation period for glyphosate, the main active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, is due to expire on 30 June 2016.

The most likely scenario now is that the college of 28 Commissioners will make a decision on the extension. While the Commission was generally in favour of renewing the glyphosate authorisation, this cannot be guaranteed.

Enormous problems

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal last week, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said failure to relicense the ingredient would pose “enormous problems, not least for the tillage sector”.

"It’s extremely complicated but we are doing everything we can to get this over the line,” Creed said.

IFA grain chair Liam Dunne has previously said that failure to renew the authorisation of glyphosate would deliver "a killer blow" to tillage farming.

"While other users might arguably manage without this active, the removal of glyphosate in the absence of alternative active ingredients to control economically important weeds will deliver a killer blow to the Irish and wider EU tillage sectors,” said Dunne.

Glyphosate is almost universally used ahead of reseeding grassland and it is widely used in tillage farming.

There have been conflicting scientific reports into the potential health effects of glyphosate, with the European Food Safety Authority concluding that “it is unlikely that this substance is carcinogenic” but the World Health Organisation concluding last year that it is a "probable carcinogen".

Full coverage: glyphosate

No vote by European Appeals Committee on glyphosate

Following the European Appeals Committee ‘no qualified majority’ vote with regard to the relicensing of glyphosate, the decision whether to extend the license goes to the EU Commission.