G/SPS/N/EU/286  
 
22 November 2018  
(18-7340) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES  
1. Notifying Member:  EUROPEAN UNION  
If applicable, name of local government involved:   
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission, Health and Food Safety Directorate -
General  
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): Curry leaves, pitahaya (dragon fruit) and vine leaves  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable : 
[ ] All trading partners  
[X] Specific regions or countries: India, Turkey, Viet Nam  
5. Title of the notified document: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1660  
of 7 November 2018 imposing special conditions governing the import of certain food of 
non-animal origin from certain third countries due to the risks of contamination with 
pesticides residues, amending Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 and repealing Implementi ng 
Regulation (EU) No 885/2014 (Text with EEA relevance) . Language(s): English, French 
and Spanish.  Number of pages: 9 
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/201 8/SPS/EEC/18_6034_00_e.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/SPS/EEC/18_6034_00_f.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/SPS/EEC/18_6034_00_s.pdf  
6. Description of content: This Regulation will subject curry leaves from India, pi tahaya 
(dragon fruit) from Viet N am and vine leaves from Turkey to import conditions including 
the requirement that each consignment is accompanied by a health certificate. It repeals 
and replaces Implementing Regulation (EU) No 885/2014 and amends Regulation (EC) 
No 669/2009 that were previously setting import conditions for these products. 
Additionally, this Regulation includes a provision regarding the notification of border 
rejections due to non -compliance with a maximum residue level of pesticides.  
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. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action: The resul ts from 
the official controls carried out by the member States in the framework of Regulation (EC) 
No 669/2009, data resulting from notifications received through the Rapid Alert System 
for Food and Feed, as established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, audi t reports by the 
Commission, reports received from third countries and exchanges of information between 
the Commission, member States and the European Food Safety Authority show a 
continuous high frequency of non -compliance of vine leaves from Turkey with the 
maximum residue levels of pesticides set out in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the G/SPS/N/EU/286  
 
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  European Parliament and of the Council. No improvement of the situation could therefore 
be observed even after increasing the frequency of controls at Union borders.  
The results from the official controls carried out by the member States in the framework 
of Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 also show a high frequency of non -compliance of pitahaya 
(dragon fruit) from Viet Nam with the maximum residue levels of pesticides set out  in 
Regulation (EC) No 396/2005. Moreover, an audit carried out by the Commission in 
Viet Nam in March 2017 to evaluate controls of pesticides in food of plant origin intended 
for export to the European Union found that there is no official effective pesti cide control 
system for food exported to the Union and that the authorities cannot ensure compliance 
of Vietnamese products with maximum residue levels for pesticide residues.  
This provides evidence that the import of vine leaves from Turkey and of p itahay a (dragon 
fruit) from Viet Nam is likely to constitute a serious risk to health and that such risk cannot 
be contained satisfactorily by the measures currently in place. It is therefore necessary 
to establish special conditions of import for vine leaves fr om Turkey and pitahaya (dragon 
fruit) from Viet Nam.  
Curry leaves from India are currently subject to the special conditions of import set out 
in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 885/2014. Special conditions of import 
for this product should be m aintained, in light of the data resulting from notifications 
received through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed and of the results from the 
official controls carried out by the m ember States in the framework of Regulation (EU) 
No 885/2014, which sho w a continuous high frequency of non -compliance.  
9. Is there a relevant international standard? If so, identify the standard:  
[X] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex 
standard or related text) : Codex standards on Pesticide Residues  
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g.  Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number) :  
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM number) :  
[ ] None  
Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant int ernational standard?  
[ ] Yes   [X] No  
If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard: This measure is based on EU MRLs, some of which deviate from 
the relevant Codex Standard.  
10. Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  
ISO/IEC  17025  
11. Date of entry into force ( dd/mm/yy )/period of application (as applicable): 
28 November 2018  
[ ] Trade facilitating measure  
12. Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [X]  National Notification 
Authority, [X]  National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e -mail address 
(if available) of other body:  
European Commission  
DG Health and Food Safety, Unit D2 -Multilateral International Relations  
Rue Froissart 101  
B-1049 Brussels  
Tel: +(3 2 2) 29 54263  
Fax: +(32 2) 29 98090  
E-mail: sps@ec.europa.eu  G/SPS/N/EU/286  
 
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  13. Text(s) available from: [X]  National Notification Authority, [X]  National Enquiry 
Point. Address, fax number and e -mail address (if available) of other body:  
European Commission  
DG Health and Food Safety, Unit D2 -Multilateral International Relations  
Rue Froissart 101  
B-1049 Brussels  
Tel: +(32 2) 29 54263  
Fax: +(32 2) 29 98090  
E-mail: sps@ec.europa.eu