Resolution on the draft Commission regulation amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards maximum residue levels for cyproconazole and spirodiclofen in or on certain products
The European Parliament adopted by 522 votes to 127, with 28 abstentions, a resolution objecting to the draft Commission regulation amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards maximum residue levels (MRLs) for cyproconazole and spirodiclofen in or on certain products.
In the draft regulation, the Commission is proposing to maintain the MRLs of a large quantity of products (cereals, seeds, meat, liver and kidney) above the relevant limit of determination or the default MRL value of 0.01 mg/kg based on MRLs established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CXLs).
More specifically, the Commission is proposing to set the MRLs at their levels of CXLs for peas (without pods), beans, peas, barley, buckwheat and other pseudocereals, maize/corn, common millet/proso millet, oat, rye, wheat, coffee beans and sugar beet roots, muscle and fat of swine, cattle, sheep, goat and horse, and muscle, fat and liver of poultry, milk of cattle, sheep, goat and horse, and birds eggs.
This means that MRLs for the liver and kidney of swine, bovine, sheep, goat and horse would be maintained at the existing levels of 0.5 mg/kg, for rapeseeds/canola seeds at 0.4 mg/kg and soybeans at 0.07 mg/kg. For all other products, for which there are no CXLs or import tolerances, the MRLs are lowered to product-specific limits of determination varying between 0.01 and 0.05 mg/kg.
Members considered that the proposed MRLs do not protect the health of citizens in Europe, and they are therefore contrary to Regulations (EC) No 396/2005 and (EC) No 178/2002. They stressed that MRLs should not be set for active substances that are not approved in the Union due to health concerns. Therefore, no CXLs exceeding the relevant limit of determination or the default value of 0.01mg/kg should be considered safe for consumers as cyproconazole is classified as toxic for reproduction category 1B.
In support of its objection, Parliament pointed out that one the farmers’ core demands made when they demonstrated in the first half of 2024 was for fair and equitable treatment for products imported from third countries, which should be subject to the same standards as those produced in the EU. However, the adoption of the draft Commission regulation would allow for the continuation of imports into the Union which do not comply with the standards by which Union farmers abide. Such a situation would place Union farmers at a competitive disadvantage.
Parliament called on the Commission to withdraw the draft regulation and submit a new one to the committee lowering all MRLs for cyproconazole to the limit of determination or the default value of 0.01 mg/kg for all uses and to refuse any requests for import tolerances.