. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/HKG/27 
20 November 2007  
 (07-5048) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  HONG KONG, CHINA
  
If applicable, name of local government involved:     
2. Agency responsible:  Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Government of the 
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numb er(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):  Food for human consumption 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable :  
Countries/places exporting  food to Hong Kong, China 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Consultation Document 
on Proposed Regulatory Framework for Pesticid e Residues in Food in Hong Kong, China 
(available in English and Chinese, 33 pages and 37 pages, respectively) 
6. Description of content:  The consultation document invites views on the proposal to 
introduce a new subsidiary legislation under th e Public Health and Municipal Services 
Ordinance (Chapter 132, Laws of Hong Kong, Chin a) to regulate pesticide residues in food.  
The proposed regulatory framewo rk are summarized as follows:  
(1) to adopt the definition of "pesticide " and other related terms from the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission (Codex);  
(2) to adopt a "positive list" approach to clearly specify the maximum residue limits 
(MRLs) and extraneous maximum residue li mits (EMRLs) of pesticides allowed in 
food in the legislation; 
(3) to adopt MRLs/EMRLs develo ped by Codex as the backbone; 
(4) to develop a "default value", such that the detection of pesticide residues without 
specified MRLs in excess of which is unacceptable, and a list of "exempted substances"; 
(5) to adopt Codex classi fication of foods;  and 
(6) to implement the next piece of subsidiary  legislation with a two-year grace period. 
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    G/SPS/N/HKG/27 
Page 2  
 
  8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [   ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   
We propose adopting Codex definitions of key term s such as "pesticide", "pesticide residue", 
"MRL" and "EMRL" in the new subsidiary legislation.  This will facilitate our trading partners to have a bett er understanding of the new regulatory requirement. 
We propose adopting a "positive list" approach, which enables a more comprehensive control 
by clearly stating the MRLs of  pesticides allowed in food. 
It is suggested that the MRLs and EMRLs be set by adopting Codex standard as the 
backbone, supplemented by re lated standards of the mainland China and other major 
exporting countries.  Risk asse ssment studies will then be conducted using internationally 
accepted methods to assess whether the proposed MRLs and EMRLs are adequate for 
protection of public health in the local setting.  This approach is considered pragmatic taking 
into account the heavy reliance of Hong Kong, China on imported food. 
To ensure uniform nomenclature among in ternational trade and for the purpose of 
establishing groups of MRLs fo r food commodities of simila r characteristics and residue 
potential, we also propose adopting the Codex classification system of food under the new 
regulatory framework. 
9. Relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available:   See Item 5   
10. Proposed date of adoption:  To be notified. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  To be notified. 
12. Final date for comments:  31 January 2008 
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: 
 Centre for Food Safety 
 (Attn:  Risk Assessment Section) 
 Food and Environmental Hygiene Department  43/F, Queensway Government Offices  66 Queenway, Hong Kong  Tel:  +(852) 2867 5699 
 Fax:  +(852) 2893 3547 
 E-mail:  pesticide_consultation@fehd.gov.hk 
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notifica tion authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: 
See Item 12 
The notified text could also be downloaded from:  http://www.cfs.gov.hk