Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-19-Speech-1-083"
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"en.20040419.7.1-083"2
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".
Mr President
I am very happy to have the opportunity to discuss this proposal with you and I would like to thank the rapporteurs – Mrs Redondo Jiménez in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and Mr Sturdy in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy – for the time and effort they have put into forging agreements on the text.
These are the main objectives covered by the proposal, which I hope can enter into force by 2006, 30 years after our first efforts in this area, during which we have seen major changes in science, in trade, in politics and in consumer protection. I commend this proposal to you as a major advance in consumer protection and I look forward to the forthcoming discussion.
This proposal concerns the setting of MRLs: maximum residue levels for pesticides in food and feed. It is a delicate subject, since I do not know of anybody who actively wishes to have pesticides residues in their food. However, in modern agriculture they are an unavoidable by-product of agricultural production methods. Our duty here is to set out a legal and administrative framework whereby consumers are protected from unacceptable levels of residues whilst at the same time permitting trade in agricultural commodities.
It is important to note that this legislation is not designed to regulate the use of pesticides and I do not wish to enter into discussions on the broader subject of pesticide use here today. That is covered by Council Directive 91/414/EEC on the marketing and use of pesticides, on which the Commission will be bringing forward amendment proposals at the end of this year. Let us look, rather, at the proposal before us. This proposal has several objectives.
First, it aims to simplify. It went through a SLIM exercise with stakeholders in 2000 and 2001, and it consolidates and replaces four existing directives and replaces them with a single regulation.
Second, it aims to achieve, at a stroke, harmonisation of MRLs across the Community. We have been setting MRLs at Community level since 1976, and have still not even reached the halfway stage. This means that for most substances and commodities, 15 and soon 25 different national sets of rules apply. This is hardly compatible with the single market. By introducing the possibility of temporary Community MRLs, we can harmonise everything in a short time, pending the outcomes of evaluations of active substances under Directive 91/414/EEC.
Third, we will introduce a role for the European Food Safety Authority in the risk assessment of MRLs.
Fourth, we will introduce clear and transparent procedures for all interested parties in the setting or modification of MRLs.
Fifth, by introducing the concept of a default 'zero tolerance' MRL, we propose a solution for residues of the 400 substances we have already taken off the market, of which we do not want to see any residues in food. Some of these are unacceptable substances; many are substances which industry did not want to support in the 91/414/EEC evaluation programme and for which we have no information one way or the other.
Finally, we aim to strengthen provisions on monitoring and control measures."@en1
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