SUBMISSION
BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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, along with multiple other Members, remains concerned that the
European Union did not appear to address our concerns regarding its
reduction of thiacloprid MRLs to the Limit of Determination last month.
2. We
remain concerned that the European Union retracted a 2023 regulation, which
maintained existing thiacloprid MRLs that correspond to existing Codex MRLs or
were derived from import tolerances following EFSA's 2023 scientific assessment[1] that found them to be safe
for consumers.
3. It
is unclear to the United States why EFSA's 2023 scientific assessment was not
considered, or why the European Union appears to have adopted a hazard-based
approach without acknowledging relevant science-based evidence.
4. Thiacloprid
is no longer approved for use in the European Union. The United States is
concerned that the European Commission appears to have taken this regulatory
action at the instruction of the European Parliament following a failure of member
States to reach a required qualifying majority to adopt science-based MRLs for
thiacloprid.
5. As
in other cases when a qualified majority cannot be reached, the United States
expected the Commission to move ahead and implement its 2023 proposal. In the
absence of this action, the United States notes that the European Union's hazard-based
cut-off criteria, including for substances that may have endocrine disrupting
properties, are not a part of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 governing the
establishment of pesticide MRLs.
6. The
United States remains concerned that consideration of the hazard-based cutoff
criteria is not an appropriate justification for the reduction of these MRLs
and encourages the European Union to revert to the originally proposed,
science-based MRLs for thiacloprid.
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