European Pesticide Registration requires a Risk Assessment for non-target organisms which has to be performed according to EU Regulation (Reg. 1107/2009 EC). Through the years European Authorities developed Guidance Documents (GD) for risk assessment considering exposure scenarios for the required organisms typical for terrestrial crops. GDs do not include scenarios for pesticide applications on rice: paddy is characterized by flooded cultivation conditions, typical of semi-aquatic environments and wetlands, representative of a unique exposure scenario, not comparable to the terrestrial ones. The current and available GD could be considered not adequate and sufficiently representative to describe and evaluate the risk in rice paddy during flooded periods. Aim of this work is to identify the main critical issues raising from the GD application for the mandatory categories of organisms: terrestrial vertebrates, aquatic organisms, nontarget arthropods, soil organisms, non-target terrestrial plants. A selection of possible exposure scenarios will be suggested for each group of organisms to define an appropriate approach for the development of a reserved risk assessment for pesticide applications in rice cultivation.
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