G/TBT/N/CHE/206  
3 September 2015  
(15-4459)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: French  
 
  NOTIFICATION 
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Notifying Member: SWITZERLAND 
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible: Office fédéral de la sécurité alimentaire et des affaires vétérinaires , 
OSAV (Federal Office for Food Se curity and Veterinary Affairs) 
Name and address (including telephon e and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:  
Secrétariat d'Etat à l'économie , SECO (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) 
Holzikofenweg 36 3003 Berne 
Fax: +41 (0)58 464 09 58 
Email: tbt@seco.admin.ch  
Website: http://www.seco.admin.ch/  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2. 10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ],  5.7.1 [ ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided  in addition where applicable): Food 
5. Title, number of pages and lang uage(s) of the notified document:  
 Ordonnance sur les contaminants , OCont (Ordinance on contaminants) (30 pages) 
 Ordonnance sur les limites applicables aux ré sidus de pesticides présents dans ou 
sur les produits d'origine végétale ou animale , OPOVA (Ordinance on the limiits 
applicable to pesticide residues in or on products of plant or animal origin) (193 pages) 
 Ordonnance sur les résidus de substances pharmacologiquement actives et d'additifs 
pour l'alimentation animale dans les denrées alimentaires d'origine animale , 
ORésDAlan (Ordinance on residues of pharmacologically active substances and feed 
additives in foods of animal origin) (15 pages) 
 Ordonnance concernant les conditions d'importation et de mise sur le marché de 
denrées alimentaires à la suite de l'accident survenu à la centrale nucléaire de 
Tchernobyl  (Ordinance on requirements governing the importation and placing on 
the market of food products in the light of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station) (5 pages) 
Language(s) of the notified document: German, French and Italian  G/TBT/N/CHE/206 
- 2 - 
  6. Description of content:  
 OCont: The existing Ordinance on foreign substances and components is to be 
repealed. The content of that Ordinance will be split into three new Ordinances: the 
Ordinance on maximum pesticide residue levels, the Ordinance on residues of pharmacologically active substances and the Ordinance on contaminants. The notified draft Ordinance on contaminants would harmonize Swiss legislation with the 
legislation of our main economic partner (the European Union). 
 OPOVA: Switzerland proposes introducing into Swiss law, the obligation, already 
present in EU legislation, to establish a st atus report on residues. The Federal Office 
for Food Security and Veterinary Affairs (OSAV) would remain authorized to modify 
the annexes to take into account advances in EU knowledge. 
 ORésDAlan: Until now, veterinary drug residues were covered by the Ordinance on 
foreign substances and components and the Ordinance on veterinary drugs. The 
proposed Ordinance on residues of pharmacologically active substances brings together all the relevant provisions, in line with the approach of our main economic partner (the European Union). It establishes maximum concentration levels and 
reference values. 
 Ordinance on requirements governing the im portation and placing on the market of 
food products in the light of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station: 
Until now, the limit and tolerance values for radionuclides were set forth in the 
Ordinance on foreign substances and components. As this Ordinance is to be repealed, existing requirements concerning Chernobyl-related cesium residues in 
certain foods would be set forth in a specific Ordinance. This most notably concerns 
imported foods that have been contaminated by radioactivity, in particular mushrooms and wild berries. A certificate would be required to confirm that the limit value for cesium isotopes had not been exceeded.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  
 Protection of consumer health. 
 Harmonization with the legislation of the main economic partner (the European 
Union). 
8. Relevant documents: The draft technical regulation can be downloaded from the 
complete draft revision of the legislation on food and basic commodities: 
http://www.blv.admin.ch/dokumentation /01013/05845/05846/inde x.html?lang=fr 
9. Proposed date of adoption: Mid-2016 
Proposed date of entry into force: Mid-2016  
10. Final date for comments: 30 November 2015 
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresse s, if available, of other body:  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/TBT/CHE/15_3452_00_f.pdf 
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/TBT/CHE/15_3452_01_f.pdf 
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/TBT/CHE/15_3452_02_f.pdf 
https://members.wto.org/crnattachme nts/2015/TBT/CHE/15_3452_03_f.pdf