On December 10, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published reasoned opinion on the modification of the existing maximum residue level (MRL) for acetamiprid in apricots and tree nuts.
In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, Greece, hereafter referred to as the evaluating Member State (EMS), received an application from Nisso Chemical Europe GmbH to set an import tolerance for the active substance acetamiprid in cherries, cucurbits, peaches/nectarines, apricots, peas without pods, plums and tree nuts from United States of America (USA). Greece drafted an evaluation report in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, which was submitted to the European Commission and forwarded to EFSA on 2 May 2013.
For all commodities except for tree nuts and apricots the existing EU MRLs, which are mainly based on CXLs established in 2012, are at the same level or higher than the requested import tolerance. Thus, the MRL application for these crops is obsolete. In the current reasoned opinion EFSA will consider only the MRL requests submitted for tree nuts and apricots.
EFSA bases its assessment on the evaluation report submitted by the EMS, the Draft Assessment Report (DAR) (and its addenda) prepared under Council Directive 91/414/EEC, the Commission Review Report on acetamiprid, the JMPR Evaluation report, the EFSA Scientific report, as well as the conclusions from previous EFSA opinions on acetamiprid.
