The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted a report drawn up by Robert STURDY (EPP-ED, UK), and made some amendments, in the context of the first reading of the co-decision procedure to the proposal for a regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission.
The main amendments were as follows:
- Annex I shall include all products for which MRLs are set, as well as the other products for which it is appropriate to apply harmonised MRLs in particular in view of their relevance in the diet of consumers or in trade. Products shall be grouped in such a way that MRLs may as far as possible be set for a group of similar or related products.
- The Committee felt that the references to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny should be clear and not entail any curtailing of time limits compared to the standard time limits of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. It deleted some provisions enabling the Commission to make use of the urgency procedure.
- Members stated that guidelines for analysis and quality control procedures for methods of analysis are of a general nature. Therefore, such guidelines should be adopted according to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. They provided therefore that technical guidelines dealing with the specific validation criteria and quality control procedures in relation to methods of analysis for the determination of pesticide residues may be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.