ICCO Press Releases

2008

Manual on Pesticide Use in Cocoa

Date: 31/07/2008
Category: General

I am writing to confirm that the European Union Legislation on Pesticide Residues (Regulation 149/2008/EEC) will come into force on 1 September 2008. From that date onwards, all cocoa beans entering the European Union must conform to the provisions of the above EU Regulation. Producing Member countries are therefore advised to take all necessary steps to ensure that consignments of cocoa beans being imported into the European Union with effect from 1 September 2008 conform to these provisions.

The Regulation establishes the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) of pesticides permitted in cocoa. MRLs are defined as the maximum concentration of pesticide residue (expressed as milligrammes of residue per kilogramme of food/animal feeding stuff) likely to occur in or on food and feeding stuffs after the use of pesticides according to Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), i.e. when the pesticide has been applied in line with the product label recommendations and in keeping with local environmental and other conditions. For active substances for which no MRL is included in the Regulation, a default MRL of 0.01mg/kg will apply.

To assist in complying with the new Regulation, a Manual on Pesticide Use in Cocoa has been formulated for the ICCO at the request of the Executive Committee with industry sponsorship. Members and Observers are kindly invited to consult the Manual on Pesticide use in Cocoa attached to this note.

Appendix 3 (page 53) provides a list of pesticides approved for use on cocoa when they have been applied according to Good Agricultural Practice (GAP).

The list of pesticides that must NOT be used on cocoa is shown on page 54.

Members are kindly invited to disseminate this information to the widest possible group of stakeholders and interested parties, to ensure maximum adherence to the provisions of the Directive.

The ICCO Secretariat is currently engaged in consultations with the relevant authorities and experts in the European Union to ascertain the modalities of implementation/enforcement of the Regulation. In the meantime, these consultations have resulted in some findings which seem of considerable importance for Members. The findings which could be of immediate relevance to Members are described below.

• Implementation/enforcement of the Regulation is completely the responsibility of the individual Member States of the European Union. Their respective inspection agencies can, from 1 September 2008, inspect all food imports into the EU in conjunction with the regulation.

• The new Regulation will only apply to products which have been imported into the EU from 1 September 2008, meaning that all goods imported before that time will not be affected. Moreover, inspections will take into consideration whether the goods were produced before 1 September 2008, but imported after that date. This applies to the African mid-crop of 2008.

• It has been brought to the attention of the ICCO Secretariat that "persistence" of residues of certain presticides might cause a problem in the implementation of the Regulation, as residues might continues to occur (long) after the use of the pesticide has been reduced or stopped. Members and Observers are invited to bring such cases, with justification, to the attention of the European Commission. The Commission is willing to consider such cases, possibly resulting in a (temporary) higher MRL.

• If countries believe that certain MRLs, including default MRLs, have been set at too low a level, they can take the following course of action:
• a) Make a representation at the European Commission with a dossier containing scientific evidence. The Commission would, while dealing with the matter, notify the inspection agencies of the Member States that certain problems could possibly arise following inspection; or
• b) Lodge a complaint with the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), before 28 June 2008. (This date will probably soon be deferred by one month.) This second procedure is said to be much faster than the first option of going through the European Commission.

The Secretariat is presently continuing its consultations on the implementation of the new EU Pesticide residue Regulation. If, during the consultations, matters arise of direct relevance, I will inform Members and Observers immediately.

Dr. Jan Vingerhoets

Executive Director

International Cocoa Organization

London, 10 June 2008