Developmental food aid/Food security assistance

The key objective of this project is to develop a guideline to facilitate the harmonisation of MRLs between APEC member economies by allowing automatic recognition of Codex MRLs or a trading partners MRL where appropriate, or through the establishment of import tolerances on a case-by-case basis supported by risk assessment processes. The project will be facilitated through two Expert Meetings, the first of which (likely in China in the margins of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues - CCPR, April 2015) will identify trade barriers presented by, and key factors contributing to differing MRLs among APEC member economies for the same pesticide/commodity combination. A second meeting will be held in Beijing or Manila in August/September 2015 to finalise a guideline document on the harmonisation of MRLs, including defining future training and capacity building exercises. The MRL harmonisation guideline will be endorsed by the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum and be published on the APEC website by the end of June 2016.

China