. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/BEL/9
14 March 2003
(03-1506)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  French
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  BELGIUM
If applicable, name of local government involved:
2. Agency responsible:  Federal Public Service for Health
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where
applicable):  Foodstuffs of animal and plant origin
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  All
regions and countries
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Royal Decree Amending
the Royal Decree of 13 March 2000 Establishing the Maximum Levels for Authorized
Pesticide Residues in and on Foodstuffs  (18 pages, in French and Dutch).
6. Description of content:  The purpose of this draft Decree is to update Belgian legislation to
reflect changing agricultural practices in Belgium, in particular developments in theauthorized uses of active pesticide substances.  This update consists of the addition of
maximum residue limits (MRLs) for new and recently authorized active substances, the
modification of certain existing MRLs and the withdrawal of existing MRLs for substances
which are now prohibited.  Certain MRLs are also established on the basis of import
tolerances when a request to that effect has been submitted to the Belgian authorities andconsidered acceptable.
7. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [    ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [    ] Office International des Epizooties,
[    ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [   ] None
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  The standards in the notified document take
Codex Alimentarius Commission recommendations into consideration only when a related
import tolerance request has been submitted to the Belgian authorities by a trading partner
or manufacturer of active pesticide substances.
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Royal Decree of
13 March 2000 Establishing the Maximum Levels for Authorized Pesticide Residues in and
on Foodstuffs (132 pages, in French and Dutch) is the basic legislation being amended by
the notified  document and was published in the Moniteur Belge  (Official Journal).G/SPS/N/BEL/9
Page 2
10. Proposed date of adoption:  30 June 2003, to allow for the time required by the
administrative procedure.
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  Date of publication in the Moniteur Belge  (Official
Journal).
12. Final date for comments:
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [    ] National notification
authority, [  X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:
Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (AFSCA)
Control Policy Administration – WTC III
8th floor
Boulevard S.  Bolivar 30
1000 Brussels
Belgium
13. Texts available from:  [     ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (AFSCA)
Control Policy Administration – WTC III
8th floor
Boulevard S.  Bolivar 30
1000 Brussels
Belgium