Fair international trade practices for our farmers, particularly with regard to import tolerances for residues of plant protection products regulated in the EU.

Farmers' protests in early 2024 highlighted the urgent need for new measures to strengthen farmers' position in the food chain. Proposals for targeted amendments to the current regulation establishing a common market organisation for agricultural products (CMO) and a new regulation on cross-border enforcement of unfair trade practices are currently under consideration.

But the European Union must also use the leverage of international trade policy to ensure reciprocity with essential European standards, particularly in terms of sustainability and public health. We must respond to the concerns of our farmers, who want to ensure that European products do not have to compete with imports produced in a less sustainable way.

Maximum residue limits (MRLs) have been set for imported products to meet the needs of international trade when the use of the active substance of a plant protection product on a given product is not authorised in the EU for reasons other than public health (Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005). Insofar as this approach is understandable for an exotic commodity grown under other agricultural and environmental conditions, it is questionable for a product treated with an active substance that is no longer approved in the EU due to an established risk.

In 2022, the European Commission issued a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products. This report highlighted the need to take environmental aspects into account when assessing requests for import tolerances for pesticides no longer authorised in the EU, while remaining compliant with WTO standards and obligations. In line with the farm to fork (F2F) strategy, the European Commission committed to integrate environmental aspects into the process of setting MRLs, including import tolerances.

The sustainability of food systems is a global issue and the EU acting alone cannot successfully address the global threats. Imposing even more requirements on EU producers will not lead to a level-playing field. It would even widen further the gap between European sustainability criteria, and in particular the criteria for approval of active substances, and those of third countries exporting to the EU.

This disparity has a negative impact on the development of sustainable food systems worldwide and threatens the competitiveness of our farmers by creating ever-greater cost differences. As a result, farmers risk being directly penalised by the subsequent relocation of production.

We therefore call on the Commission to:

• establish no new import tolerances and reduce existing tolerances below the quantifiable threshold for active substances not approved within the European Union for reasons relating to human health or the environment, and in particular for substances that are endocrine disrupters, mutagenic, carcinogenic or toxic to reproduction;
• include ambitious and binding requirements in the chapters on sustainable food systems in EU trade agreements and, where necessary, introduce accompanying measures to help trading partners, particularly in vulnerable countries, to commit to more sustainable practices.