EUROPEAN UNION IMPORT TOLERANCES FOR CERTAIN PESTICIDES
The following submission, received on 2
July 2025, is the statement made by the United States of America at
the 18-19 June 2025 WTO SPS Committee, and is being circulated at the request
of the Delegation of the United States of America.
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1. The United States remains
disappointed with the European Union's lack of substantive engagement with
Members relating to Commission Regulation 2023/334, which reduced maximum
residue levels (MRLs) for the neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam
for environmental reasons associated with agricultural production in third
countries.
2. The United States is also
disappointed that the European Union has not reconsidered its approach or
provided a substantive response to the legitimate concerns raised in this
Committee, including clarification of the requirements to approve import
tolerance requests.
3. Clothianidin and thiamethoxam are
critically important to produce crops that are exported to the
European Union from the United States and other WTO Members, and we are
concerned that the reduction of MRLs for imported products is simply an attempt
to address the concerns of European farmers who are no longer authorized
to use these insecticides within the European Union and are concerned
about competing with foreign producers.
4. The European Union has
unilaterally imposed on all WTO Members its own approach to improve pollinator
health. However, the United States notes the European Union has not yet
provided empirical evidence to substantiate that there is "no alternative
to the lowering of the MRLs of clothianidin and thiamethoxam".
5. The United States urges the
European Union to refrain from using pesticide MRLs to achieve domestic policy
objectives unrelated to food safety and, instead, limit the use of MRLs to
their intended purpose, which is to allow regulators to monitor the lawful
applications of pesticides and to ensure food safety for their consumers.
6. The United States also wishes to
reiterate that the 2018 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific review
of clothianidin and thiamethoxam determined MRLs that were safe for consumers.
We, therefore, repeat our request for the European Union to restore prior MRLs
for clothianidin and thiamethoxam and refrain from additional attempts to use
pesticide MRLs to achieve global environmental outcomes.
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