One of the less popular and less investigated topics of law is the use of biocontrol agents (BCAs). Despite the general growing attention to the use of BCAs in primary production, a comprehensive regulatory framework is still lacking. When shifting to possible uses of BCAs in the following phases of the food chain, legislation is even more incomplete (and inadequate) despite the challenging opportunities they offer both for pest control and for pathogen control. The paper will provide an overview of the uses of BCAs taking into consideration all the food chain stages, the relevant partial EU regulatory scheme and its critical issues.

Introduction. Various whitefly species attack sweet oranges in Nigeria. Theeconomic importance of these whiteflies varies from one area to another depending onprevailing environmental conditions. Trials were established to assess the relativesusceptibility of sweet orange varieties to woolly whitefly Aleurothrixusfloccosus (Maskell) attack, its population dynamics and the impact of itsentomopathogenic fungi Aschersonia spp.in populationmanagement. Materials and methods. Four sweet orange varieties were used forthe trials: Agege, Bende, Pineapple and Valencia. The population dynamics of A.floccosus and its fungi-colonised nymphs were monitored in 2006 and 2007 bysampling 24 leaves per tree at 14-day intervals. Average monthly precipitation, relativehumidity and temperature were collated for the period of our study. Results anddiscussion. No significant difference was observed among the populations ofA. floccosus nymphs or the level of nymphal infection byAschersonia spp. in the sweet orange varieties. Higher numbers ofwoolly whitefly eggs and adults were observed on the Agege and Bende varieties in 2006 and2007, but the results were only significantly different in 2007. In both years, thepopulations of eggs, nymphs and adults of A. floccosus and itsentomopathogenic fungi Aschersonia spp. were relatively high in the dryseason months of January to March, dropped during the rainy seasons and rose again fromOctober. Evaluation of Aschersonia spp impact showed active colonisationof whiteflies. Generally, our results showed that weather factors such as rainfall andrelative humidity negatively influenced the woolly whitefly population. Conclusion.The association between the woolly whitefly population and fungi was beneficial andsuggests that Aschersonia spp. could be considered as a potentialbiological control agent for A. floccosus

Introduction. L’acarien Oligonychus afrasiaticus, localement appelé « Boufaroua », est un ravageur des palmeraies algériennes. Pour se nourrir, il pique les dattes qui se dessèchent ensuite en fin de maturité et deviennent impropres à la commercialisation et à la consommation humaine. Des pertes économiques importantes sont alors enregistrées. Les dégâts les plus spectaculaires ont été notés sur la variété Deglet-Nour à haute valeur marchande. Matériel et méthodes. Le taux d’infestation des arbres d’une palmeraie de la région d’Ouargla a été évalué. Quatre stades phénologiques ont été considérés. Une coccinelle très vorace, Stethorus punctillum, a été récoltée dans six palmeraies puis lâchée sur des arbres expérimentaux afin de vérifier son efficacité prédatrice sur le « Boufaroua ». Résultats. L’infestation des arbres a été très variable et a augmenté au fur et à mesure de la maturité des dattes. L’efficacité de la coccinelle lâchée a été significative, et cela a été d’autant plus constaté que les arbres étaient fortement infestés. Discussion et conclusion. Stethorus punctillum joue un rôle important dans le contrôle de l’acarien O. afrasiaticus. D’autres prédateurs seraient toutefois présents en Algérie ; ils devront être testés afin d’établir une méthode de lutte biologique apte à protéger suffisamment les palmeraies contre O. afrasiaticus.

An extensive survey for natural pathogens and parasites of mosquitoes as prospective biological control agents was carried out in Israel. Coelomomyces (Class, Chytridiomycetes; Order, Blastocladiales), a fungal genus of which all but a few members are specific to mosquitoes, was not known to be present in Israeli waters. Therefore, mosquito and copepod host-range tests were conducted with Coelomomyces psorophorae obtained from abroad, in order to test the desirability of introducing Coelomomyces as a contribution to mosquito control. Acanthocyclops viridis, a cosmopolitan copepod relatively common in Israel, was duly infected with Coelomomyces psorophorae. However, the infectivity of Israel's most common pest mosquitoes (Culex pipiens complex) proved low.