G/SPS/W/292/Rev.1  
 
3 October  2017 
(17-5331) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 
WORKSHOP ON PESTICID E MAXIMUM RESIDUE LE VELS (MRLS):  
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENDORSEMENT BY THE SPS COMMITTEE  
SUBMISSION BY KENYA,  UGANDA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AME RICA 
Revision  
The follow ing communication, received on 1 October  2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation s of Kenya , Uganda  and the United States of America . 
 
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Kenya, Uganda and the United States appreciate Members ' feedback on our proposa l originally 
circulated in March 2017. The present version incorporates the comments received from Members; 
our proposed Ministerial Decision is contained in an Annex. The text of this proposed Ministerial 
Decision draws directly from our paper. Kenya, Uga nda and t he United States invite the 
SPS Committee to endorse this Decision for transmission to the Ministerial Conference i n 
Buenos  Aires in December 2017.  
Kenya, Uganda and the United States appreciate the in -depth examination of the impact of 
pesticide MRL-related issues on international trade at the Workshop on Pesticide MRLs held on 
24-25 October 2016 for WTO SPS Committee Members.1 We thank the Secretariat of the 
Committee for its efforts to organize the workshop. Discussions in the Committee on MRL -related 
concerns, as well as the views provided at the workshop by experts from a wide range of countries 
and organizations, confirm the central importance of risk analysis – including assessing, managing 
and communicating risks associated with pesticide us e – to protecting public health and the 
environment, while enabling the safe use of plant protection products and facilitating international 
trade.  
Workshop participants also confirmed there is a broad range of MRL -related issues that are 
currently having a significant impact on trade in food and agricultural products.  We believe that 
the SPS Committee can play a constructive role in addressing these trade -related concerns.  
Indeed, several Members expressed the need to continue to advance work in the Commit tee on 
trade -related issues on MRLs at the meeting of the Committee on 27-28 October  2016. To initiate 
discussion on how the Committee might advance our work on trade -related MRL issues, we offer 
the following suggestions for Members ' consideration.  
1  ENABLE  JMPR TO BETTER RESPO ND TO INCREASED DEMA ND AND MONITOR 
PROGRESS ON NEW CODE X MRLS  
1.1.  First, we heard from workshop participants that, despite the significant efforts to date by the 
Joint Meeting of Experts on Pesticide Residues from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
and the World Health Organization (WHO), known as "JMPR", to streamline procedures and to 
manage the process of scientific review as efficiently as possible, the number of nominations put 
forward by the Codex Committee on Pesticide Resid ues (CCPR) for evaluation of new compounds 
and new uses, as well as for periodic re -evaluations of existing MRLs, by the JMPR far exceeds its 
current capacity.  Further, the absence of MRLs for use in traded products is a significant concern, 
                                                
1 Presentations from the Workshop on Pesticide Maximum Residue Levels are available online via the 
following web link: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/wkshop_oct16_e/wkshop_oct16_e.htm . G/SPS/W/292/Rev.1  
 
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  particularly f or specialty crop and minor use products, and for agricultural products produced in 
developing countries.  
1.2.  Participants in the workshop also discussed options to enable additional efficiencies in the 
Codex process to help maintain the relevance of Codex MRL s to all Member countries and, in turn, 
facilitate countries' abilities to adopt Codex MRLs.  
1.3.  We believe the Committee should encourage Members, as a matter of some urgency, to 
approach their Codex representatives to highlight the trade issues raised during  the MRL workshop 
and to participate actively in their inter -ministerial discussions on MRL issues.  Members should 
encourage national discussions of options that could enable a more productive Codex MRL system.  
Such discussions would take place in the cont ext of national resource availability, and could 
include, inter alia, options for increasing support to JMPR, increasing representative expert 
participation and other forms of support for the scientific bodies as well as encouraging 
program mes to support s ubmission of data from developing countries especially on minor crops.  
The Committee should also invite regular updates from Codex on its progress in the evaluation of 
new compounds and new uses.  
2  STRENGTHEN NOTIFICAT ION PRACTICES FOR GR EATER TRANSPARENCY AND 
PREDICTABILITY ON MR LS 
2.1.  Second, workshop participants emphasized the need for greater transparency and 
predictability in Members ' regulatory approaches to pesticide registration, in the setting of national 
MRLs and in the adoption of Codex MRLs.  Several  participants noted that the WTO notification 
process can be a powerful tool for identifying potential trade problems associated with proposed 
MRLs.  They stressed that the processes for accepting comments on notifications and for taking 
comments into accou nt are primary vehicles for reducing and preventing adverse trade impacts 
resulting from new or revoked MRLs.  
2.2.  We believe the SPS Committee should consider ways for WTO Members to provide greater 
transparency and predictability worldwide on MRLs by urging M embers to : (1) notify all proposed 
changes to their MRLs, including changes to MRLs that are based on international standards ; and 
(2) review and improve their ability to take the comments of their trading partners meaningfully 
into account when considerin g proposed changes on MRLs.  
3  REPORT TO THE COMMIT TEE ON INTERNATIONAL  AND REGIONAL ACTIVIT IES ON 
MRLS  
3.1.  Third, workshop participants provided important information on harmonization and other 
collaborative activities taking place in international and regional forums other than Codex, such as 
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Asia -Pacific Economic 
Cooperation (APEC), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the East African 
Community (EAC).  The goal of these collab orative activities include, inter alia , strengthening food 
safety, public health and environmental protection both domestically and globally; strengthening 
the scientific basis and enhancing regulatory efficiency by leveraging the scientific and regulatory  
resources of the international community; minimizing unwarranted trade barriers related to 
pesticide regulatory requirements; and, facilitating trade and competition.  
3.2.  Workshop participants also noted many instances in which a creative initiative developed  in a 
regional forum has produced benefits worldwide.  For example, the OECD MRL calculator and use of 
a common application format, known as the OECD dossier, has been taken up by JMPR and many 
national authorities, thereby enabling greater alignment of MRL s. Further, these tools have also 
enabled these national authorities to work collaboratively to improve the harmonization of MRLs, 
including through Global Joint Reviews and regional economic integration efforts, such as those of 
the EAC.  Participants also  discussed activities on global data generation and global joint reviews 
that are being used as the basis of widely -accepted MRLs by many countries.  
3.3.  Participants noted the benefits to many developing countries of participation in the Codex 
process and reco unted that some developing countries are seeking to dovetail their national and 
regional efforts to those of the OECD, NAFTA and APEC in order to encourage registrations of new 
substances that could enable greater access to lower -risk chemistries by their producers.  G/SPS/W/292/Rev.1  
 
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  3.4.  We believe the Committee should welcome efforts by Members of these regional initiatives 
and the relevant observer organizations to provide regular updates to the Committee on their 
harmonization and other collaborative activities on MRLs.  Such information could provide the basis 
for other Members to take up creative new MRL -related initiatives at the national and regional 
levels to improve harmonization to Codex MRLs as well as to regional MRLs where relevant, in 
order to facilitate trade.  
4  COLLA BORATE ON SOLUTIONS FOR MRLS FOR MINOR U SE AND SPECIALTY CRO PS 
4.1.  Fourth, workshop participants noted the need for developing countries to have greater access 
to newer, lower -risk alternative pesticides to replace pesticides that are no longer supported by 
the manufacturers. Participants explained the often complex and difficult issues involved in 
enabling greater access to low -risk chemistries in developing countries, and suggested that other 
legitimate factors be taken into consideration when analyzing these  issues in order to arrive at 
practical and effective solutions.  Presentations on efforts of the EAC, as well as the capacity 
building activities on minor use associated with the IR -4 progr am of Rutgers University, the 
US Department of Agriculture, and the  Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), 
provided creative and collaborative examples of practical ways in which Members have begun to 
effectively address these issues, including through the Global Minor Use Summits.  
4.2.  Participants noted that regula tory approval procedures that are not harmonized with 
international best practices (such as the OECD guidance documents on pesticide registration) can 
add unnecessary costs and act as a disincentive to potential registrants.  In the case of the EAC, 
its members are working to identify and prioritize products based on grower needs that could be 
registered at the regional level, thereby increasing the attractiveness of the business case for 
investment.  
4.3.  We believe the SPS Committee should invite Members, on a v oluntary basis, to explore ways 
in which their domestic regulatory approaches to pesticide registration and use can impact – both 
negatively and positively – the incentives of the private sector to invest in registration and 
stewardship of lower -risk alter native pesticides in their countries.  The SPS Committee should also 
invite Members to evaluate their own minor use needs, to consider participating in the Global 
Minor Use Summit to be held in Montreal, Canada on 1-4 October 2017 and to collaborate in glob al 
data generation activities.  
5  DISCUSS THE ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE IN INC REASING COORDINATION  AND 
HARMONIZATION  
5.1.  Lastly, we note the important role of the Committee conf erred by Article 3.5 of the 
SPS Agreement to monitor the process of international harmoniz ation, and by Article 12.2 to 
sponsor technical consultation and study with the objective of increasing coordination and 
integration between international and national systems and approaches for establishing tolerances 
for contaminants in foods.  We believe  the Committee should follow up on the trade -related issues 
outlined above as identified by the experts who graciously shared their perspectives with us at the 
workshop.  
5.2.  We recommend the Committee include these recommendations in its Report of the Fifth 
Review of the Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement.  We further recommend that 
Members endorse the Decision on the Committee 's work on pesticide MRLs for transmission to the 
Ministerial Conference to be held in  Buenos Aires in December 2017.  The proposed  Decision is 
contained in an Annex to this document.  
 
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 G/SPS/W/292/Rev.1  
 
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  COMMITTEE ON SANITAR Y AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES  
PROPOSED  DECISION OF XX DECEM BER 2017  
 
 
The Ministerial Conference decides  as follows:  
 
We recognize the work undertaken by the SPS Committee to examine pesticide -related issues that 
impede and disrupt trade in food and agricultural products, and to achieve consensus on 
collaborative actions to reduce that impact on trade, parti cularly on the agricultural ex ports of 
developing countries. We affirm the central importance of risk analysis to assess, manage and 
communicate potential risks associated with pesticide use in order to protect public health and the 
environment while enabl ing the safe use of pesticides and facilitating trade in food and agricultural 
products.  We endorse the consensus reached in the SPS Committee on voluntary actions by 
Members to increase the capacity and efficiency of Codex in setting international standar ds on 
pesticide maximum residue levels (MRLs); to improve transparency and predictability in Members ' 
setting of national MRLs; to achieve greater harmonization across n ational and regional MRLs; 
and, to enable greater access to lower -risk pesticides and p esticides for minor -use crops, 
partic ularly in developing countries.  We acknowledge the productive work of the Standards and 
Trade Development Facility (STDF) in building knowledge and capacity for developing countries in 
the area of pesticide MRLs. We enc ourage the SPS Committee to monitor the effectiveness of the 
voluntary actions and the STDF work in addressing trade concerns related to food and agricultural 
products and to consider further collaborative, consensus actions as appropriate.  
 
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