COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 3 November 1997 concerning a coordinated Community monitoring programme for 1998 to ensure compliance with maximum levels of pesticide residues in and on certain products of plant origin, including fruit and vegetables (97/822/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 90/642/EEC of 27 November 1990 on the fixing of maximum levels for pesticide residues in and on certain products of plant origin, including fruit and vegetables (1), as last amended by Directive 97/41/EC (2), and in particular Article 4 (2) (b) thereof,

Whereas Article 4 (2) (b) of Directive 90/642/EEC requires the Commission to submit to the Standing Committee on Plant Health by 30 September each year a recommendation setting out a coordinated Community monitoring programme for the following year to ensure compliance for maximum levels of pesticide residues set out in Annex II to the said Directive;

Whereas Annex II Directive 90/642/EEC has been completed by lists of maximum residue levels for certain pesticides by Council Directives 93/58/EEC (3), 94/30/EC (4), 95/38/EC (5) and 96/32/EC (6), and has been amended by Council Directive 95/61/EC (7);

Whereas a specific exercise for all Member States should be coordinated for 1998; whereas this is the third such specific coordinated programme to be recommended and indications as to the products to be included in future annual specific coordinated programmes are important for the planning of the competent authorities of the Member States; whereas products will not normally be repeated in specific coordinated programmes within an interval of three years;

Whereas a systematic statistical approach to numbers of samples to be taken in the specific coordinated exercise is necessary; whereas such an approach has been set out by the Commission of the Codex alimentarius (8) and indicates that examination of a total sample number of 459 gives a 99 % confidence of detecting one sample containing pesticide residues if it is anticipated that 1 % of products of plant origin will contain residues; whereas the total number of samples to be taken by each Member State should be apportioned on the basis of population and consumer numbers, with a minimum of 12 samples per product and per year, and indicated in Annex I B;

Whereas Article 4 (2) (a) of Directive 90/642/EEC requires Member States to specify the criteria applied in drawing up their national inspection programmes when sending to the Commission information on their implementation during the previous year; whereas such information should include the criteria applied in determining the numbers of samples to be taken and analyses to be carried out and the reporting levels applied and the criteria by which the reporting levels have been fixed; whereas details of accreditation pursuant to Directive 93/99/EC of 29 October 1993 on the subject of additional measures concerning the official control of foodstuffs (9) and the laboratories carrying out analyses should be indicated;

Whereas information on the results of monitoring programmes and details of intended national monitoring programmes are particularly appropriate for treatment, storage and transmission by electronic/informatic methods; whereas formats have been developed for supply in diskette form to the Member States by the Commission; whereas Member States should therefore be able to send their reports and intended national monitoring programmes to the Commission in the standard format; whereas the further development of such a standard format is most effectively undertaken by the development of guidelines by the Commission;

Whereas the measures provided for in this recommendation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Health,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS THE MEMBER STATES TO:

1. as a specific exercise for 1998, sample and analyse for the product/pesticide residue combinations set out in Annex I A, on the basis of the number of samples of each product allocated to each Member State in Annex I B, reflecting as appropriate, national, Community and third country share of the Member State's market and report the results, together with the analytical methods used and reporting levels achieved, at the latest by 31 August 1999;

2. by 31 August 1998, send to the Commission all the information as required by Article 4 (3) of Directive 90/642/EEC concerning the 1997 monitoring exercise to ensure, at least by check-sampling, compliance with maximum pesticide residue levels including:

2.1. - the results of their national programmes concerning pesticides listed in Annex II to Directive 90/642/EEC, in relation to harmonized levels and, where these have not yet been fixed at Community level, in relation to the national levels in force,

2.2. - the criteria applied when drawing up their national programmes concerning the numbers of samples taken and the analyses carried out,

2.3. - the criteria applied when defining and fixing reporting levels,

2.4. - details of accreditation, in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 of Directive 93/99/EC, of the laboratories carrying out the analyses and, where such accreditation has not yet been accorded, the criteria applied in establishing quality assurance measures in those laboratories.

This recommendation is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 3 November 1997.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 350, 14. 12. 1990, p. 71.

(2) OJ L 184, 12. 7. 1997, p. 33.

(3) OJ L 211, 23. 8. 1993, p. 6.

(4) OJ L 189, 23. 7. 1994, p. 70.

(5) OJ L 197, 22. 8. 1995, p. 14.

(6) OJ L 144, 18. 6. 1996, p. 96.

(7) OJ L 292, 17. 12. 1995, p. 27.

(8) Codex alimentarius, Pesticide residues in foodstuffs, Rome 1994, ISBN 92-5-203271-1; vol. 2, p. 367.

(9) OJ L 290, 24. 11. 1993, p. 14.

ANNEX I A

Maximum residue levels (MRLs) to be monitored in the specific exercise for 1998 set out in point 1 of the recommendation

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ANNEX I B

Number of samples of each product to be taken by each Member State

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