On July 16, 2013, Taiwan Council Agricultural (COA), Executive Yuan has issued the Announcement 1021487246 to invite public comments regarding amendments to the rules for the spot checking on pesticide residues.

The “Measure for the Spot-Check on Agrochemical Use and Pesticide Use”, which specified the time, procedures and management practices of sampling, harvesting and marketing of the crops, was first implemented on Nov 17, 1989 and it has been revised four times. It stipulated the MRL inspectors should “sample the produce from the field at an appropriate time before the harvesting” and the crops/fruits “should not be gathered from the field” if MRL violation was identified. However, it is difficult for the inspectors to define the “appropriate time” and COA acknowledged that some pesticide residues are quickly eliminated and the agricultural produces would be MRLs qualified if they were re-sampled and examined. Furthermore, it is difficult and impractical to implement or define a few terms in the current statute. The COA consulted from the subordinate government organizations and other concerned parties on May 29 and Jun 29. The term of “sample the produce from the field at an appropriate time before the harvesting” would be cancelled and the suspect MRL violating crops/fruits “should not be sold on the market”. Farmers may harvest the crops/fruits and ask for re-sampling and examination by the competent authorities. If the produce was MRLs qualified after the re-examination, it would be approved for marketing.

COA provided detailed explanation on the revised terms in the proposal and conducted a comparison between the original rules and the proposal. The proposal amendment has been opened for public opinion until Jul 26, 2013.

Reference Links

• COA’s News Release (in Traditional Chinese)

• Explanation on the revised terms and comparison between the proposal amendment and the original rules (Download in Traditional Chinese)