G/SPS/GEN/1746  
 
11 November 2019  
(19-7658) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
APEC  IMPORT MRL GUIDELINE FOR PESTI CIDES: A GUIDELINE O N POSSIBLE 
APPROACHES TO ACHIEV E ALIGNMENT OF INTER NATIONAL MRLS  
COMMUNICATION FROM AUSTRALIA  
The follow ing communication, received on 8 November  2019, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Australia . 
 
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1.  Australia would like to take the opportunity to draw to members attention the APEC Import  MRL 
Guideline for Pesticides: A Guideline on Possible Approaches to Achieve Al ignment of International  
MRLS . The guideline  has been discussed positively in recent non -tariff measures workshops and is 
particularly relevant to Members of this Committee given the focus on pesticides, their regulation 
and the potential of MRLs to be non -tariff barrier s to trade.  
2.  The guideline  is intended to facilitate a greater degree of clarity and alignment around the 
application of assessment methodologies involved in considering import MRL requests, from the 
perspective of consumer protection, across  the APEC region . The aim is to not only increase 
consumer confidence in the MRL setting process, but where practical and appropriate, also achieve 
greater regulatory convergence of MRLs, promoting greater alignment with international standards, 
while redu cing the regulatory burden across APEC economies and facilitating trade.  
3.  APEC agreements are non -binding on APEC economies . The guideline  is meant to be used on a 
voluntary basis, as an aid for APEC economies when considering the alignment of domestic pesticide 
MRLs of plant protection products, with relevant international or regional standards (e.g. Codex) or 
with an exporting countr y's MRLs. The overall objective is to provide a coherent framework within 
which APEC economies can identify the minimum dataset, to the extent necessary, upon which to 
assess a request for pesticide import MRLs where health -based guidance values , authorised use 
patterns and MRLs have been established, either international ly or in the exporting economy.  
4.  The guideline  is intended to also create opportunities to share relevant residue trial data and 
information across the APEC region. The guideline  provides an outline of the processes that could 
be followed when evaluating MRL alignment. It is not intended to cover pesticides that are banned 
or restricted in the importing economy.  
5.  Each economy in the APEC region has developed its own regulatory system aimed at protecting 
the environment, public and consumer health, resulting i n significant diversity in regulatory policies 
and approaches towards pesticide MRL setting, compliance and recognition.  
6.  Trade in food, across the APEC region, can be severely disrupted when non -compliance with 
importing economy standards occurs. Such non -compliance can be due to MRL disparities arising 
either from MRLs based on differing use patterns ( Good Agricultural Practices, GAP) or the absence 
of a MRL in an importing economy. Dealing with such breaches can be problematic, particularly 
where there ma y be no public health concerns over potential food safety.  
7.  To assist in minimi zing such discrepancies and facilitate trade, while continuing to protect human 
health from potential pesticide risks, the APEC food safety cooperation forum developed a guidance  
document on approaches to achieve alignment of MRLs for pesticides within APEC.  G/SPS/GEN/1746  
 
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  8.  The primary benefit of the guidance is the development of a convergent regulatory approach, 
based on agreed principles that would allow economies to balance their regulatory needs with the 
goal of facilitating trade. Other important benefits include providing communication contacts with 
relevant APEC economy practitioners and increased opportunities for cooperation, collaboration and 
work sharing.  
9.  The guideline  is available from the APEC website:  
https://www.APEC.org/publications/2016/08/import -MRL-guideline -for-pesticides . 
 
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