On 4 Dec 2017 China MIIT opened a 30-day consultation on the pending mandatory standard, “Fertilizer Grading and Requirements”. Depending on hazard identification result and harmful substance content, all fertilizers will be rated and labeled as ecological grade fertilizer, field grade fertilizer and garden grade fertilizer, which correspond to their permitted application area of organic agriculture, ordinary agriculture and garden use respectively.   All commercial fertilizers will be labeled and rated as ecological grade, field grade and garden grade, which correspond to their permitted application area of organic agriculture, ordinary agriculture and garden use respectively; Fertilizers with higher grade are subject to more stringent requirements on hazards, maximal limits of heavy metals, organic and microbial contaminants and veterinary antibiotics; Terrestrial plant growth test would be required for novel products prior to the placement on the market; Disclosure of plant growth hormone ingredient and raw materials in ecological grade fertilizers will be mandatorily required;

On 27th Nov 2017, China MoA officially released the expert panelists of the 9th National Committee on Pesticide Registration. The panelists were nominated on the commendation of government departments including MIIT, MEP, NHFPC, AQSIQ, SAWS and CFDA to fit specific personnel composition requirements as designated by the MoA earlier this year. Nominations were open to public consultation since 17th of October 2017. The new committee will offer technical advice in accordance with the new data requirements, which entered into force on 1 Nov 2017.

On 17 Nov 2017, the Chinese State Council's Legislative Affairs Office released the draft of “Regulation for the Prevention and Management of Agricultural Pests” and will solicit public comments until 17 Dec 2017. The draft was compiled by the MoA and clarifies the responsibilities of government departments at all levels and entities engaged in agricultural production and pest control service, as well as standardizes the practices of pest monitoring, forecast, prevention and control.

Dozens of Shandong pesticide producers have already been ordered to halt operations starting from 15 Nov 2017 to 15 Mar 2018. Moreover, Jilin, Sichuan and Henan provinces have also joined the campaign meaning 34 cities in 8 provinces are now affected. In these regions there are hundreds of pesticide and intermediate producers in various scales so we can expect high prices to continue throughout next year.

On 10 Nov 2017, China ICAMA opened a 30-day consultation on the “Guideline on Pesticide Residue Trials on Crop”. As a vital component of pesticide management, residue trial provides scientific justification for MRL development and good agricultural practice for pesticide application, which is of great significance in ensuring food safety.

On 2 Nov2017, China ICAMA released 3 draft guidelines for health risk assessment of pesticide and will solicit public opinion until 2 Dec 2017. All drafts are compiled under voluntary agricultural standards.

China’s pesticide MRL regulatory framework (the maximum concentrations of pesticide residues in foods) is underdeveloped compared with other major economies and fails to adequately meet food safety and international trade requirements. China plans to establish 10,000 MRLs by 2020, based on this and on historical trends it is possible to offer the following predictions with regard to future developments in China’s MRL system: Fruits and vegetables will be given priority over grains Proprietary and off-patent pesticides will have MRLs added Prohibited and high risk pesticides will be prioritized Concepts used in Japan’s positive list system which includes population based exposure scenarios and susceptible populations could be implemented As early as 1990, China started pesticide MRL development. Since then numerous MRLs have been developed by China’s various regulatory authorities in the form of national/industrial standards for agricultural produce or food safety/ standards. This multi-sector development has resulted in overlap and inconsistency in both standards, enforcement and supervision. Since 2010, China began the process of reforming it MRL regulatory framework with the aim of deleting, consolidating and updating the MRLs into a unified food safety standard for pesticide MRLs, known as GB 2763. Up to now the standard has been updated three times and the number of MRLs has increased from 873 in 2012 to 4140 in 2016. A total 433 pesticide active ingredients and 286 commodities/ commodity groups are included into GB 2763-2016, covering 70% of the active ingredients approved and most commodities currently consumed in China. Particularly, GB 2763-2016 provides MRLs for all banned/restricted pesticides in all types of commodity. prioritization of fresh edible agriculture produce. Fig.1- Number of MRLs established for Different Commodities 2014 and 2016 Edition Comparison Compa

Unilateral acceptance of test reports from overseas GLP laboratory will no longer be supported. A transitional period before the implementation of this new stipulation is being considered. On 1 Nov 2017 China begins practical implementation of new pesticide regulations. After this date all subsequent pesticide registration applications will be reviewed under new data requirements. New regulation specifies that test reports should be issued by a MoA-recognized testing facilities or overseas labs from a country or organization which have signed MAD (Mutual/ multilateral Acceptance of Data) agreement with China. The report from overseas OECD GLP labs (which China has recognized for decades) will no longer be usable in China. During the 9th Chemical Regulatory Annual Conference, Mr. Chen Tiechun from ICAMA introduced how GLP principles will be adopted for laboratory monitoring and shared with the audience the latest MAD achievements.   Experimentation Management under New Pesticide Regulatory System In the past transparent and clear requirements on laboratory testing have not been available, requirements were based on ICAMA’s on laboratory inspection guidance and MoA’s voluntary measures on GLP-compliance. In fact there was no strong legislative or regulatory basis managing this aspect of pesticide administration in China. Under the new legislation, a ministerial regulation (which will parallel the regulations managing registration, production, marketing and management) was promulgated and two new mandatory supporting rules on laboratory accreditation and GLP management have been issued issued under the MoA Announcement 2570. Under this new framework testing labs are regarded as other business entities such as registrant, producers and dealers:  

On 17 Oct 2017, China MoA disclosed the expert panelists nominated for the forthcoming 9th National Committee on Pesticide Registration for public consultation until 31 Oct 2017.

On 30 Sep 2017, the Chinese Ministry of Agricultures issued the Announcement 2586, “Guideline for the Establishment of Pesticide Acute Reference Dose (ARfD)”. The guild will serve as the technical basis for MRL establishment and dietary risk assessment of pesticides in China.