MRL is not only a food safety standard that protecting consumer health but also a standard for domestic, regional, and international trades. There is a strong need to harmonize national and regional MRLs with international MRLs to prevent trade restriction. However, the process of MRL harmonization is not simple and requires considerable knowledge and effort to ensure full harmonization at all levels. Thailand, as well as most of South-East Asian (ASEAN) countries, are exporters of agricultural and food commodities. The ten members of ASEAN have been in the process of harmonizing national MRLs with ASEAN regional MRLs for almost 20 years. The key factor is to have the MRL setting procedure harmonized with international procedure agreed by Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). Once the procedure is harmonized, specific Codex MRLs can be adopted to be national and ASEAN MRLs as far as they do not conflict with national/ASEAN GAP and/or risk assessment. Codex MRLs are useful for countries and region however they do not cover many tropical fruits and vegetables which are mostly considered as minor crops. In this case, countries need to set MRLs based on their own data including GAP, residue trial data, and risk assessment data. The data generated at national level can also be used to set regional MRLs as well as Codex MRLs. Data requirements at each level need to be carefully considered. The limitation of residue data is the major obstacle in setting MRLs. This problem is extremely high in particular to minor crops. Codex, as well as many countries, are considering the ways forward to reduce the obstacles in setting MRLs for minor crops especially on the aspects of procedures and data requirements. Guidelines on specific issues, for examples, crop grouping/classification, extrapolation, the minimum numbers of trials needed to set MRLs for minor crops, are being prepared to facilitate more MRLs setting for minor crops and thus removing trade barrier.

Challenges in MRL harmonization: Linkage of national, regional, and international process

248th National Meeting (2014)

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