. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/AUS/157
23 December 2003
(03-6712)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   AUSTRALIA
If applicable, name of local government involved:
2. Agency responsible:   Food Standards Austra lia New Zealand (FSANZ)
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where
applicable):  Foods in general
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: All
countries.  Imported (as well as domestically produced) foods sold in Australia .
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Assessment Report for
Maximum Residue Limits Application:  P281  (available in English, 54 pages)
6. Description of content:  This Proposal seeks to amend the Australia New Zealand Food
Standards Code  (the Code) to correct minor anoma lies, so that maximum residue limits
(MRLs) of agricultural and veterinary chemical s in food products are consistent with other
national regulations relating to the safe and effective use of agricultural and veterinarychemicals.  In administrative terms and consistent with international practice, MRLs assist
in regulating the use of agricultural and veterinary chemical products.  MRLs indicate
whether agricultural and veterinary chemical products have been used in accordance with
the registered conditions of use.  MRLs in the Code also act to protect public health and
public safety by ensuring that chemical residues are no higher than necessary, and act asinternational trading standards.
The MRLs prescribed in the Code constitute a mandatory requirement applying to all food
products of a particular class whether produced domestically or imported.  Food products
with a residue that exceeds the relevant MRL set out in the Code cannot legally be suppliedor sold in Australia.
This Proposal contains variations to MRLs, which are addressed in the Codex Alimentarius
Commission standard.  These MRLs may also re late to chemicals used in the production of
traded agricultural commodities, which may indirectly affect trade of derivative food
products between WTO Members.
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection,
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease, [   ] protect territory from other
damage from pestsG/SPS/N/AUS/157
Page 2
8. International standard, gu ideline or recommendation:
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] Office International des Epizooties,
[   ] International Plant Prot ection Convention, [   ] None
If an international standard , guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:   The proposed MRLs for doramectin for cattle
fat (0.1 mg/kg) and procymidone for strawberries (5 mg/kg) differ from the CodexAlimentarius Commission MRLs (0.15 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, respectively), and the
proposed deletion of MRLs for glyphosate for rape seed (edible) and methidathion for
edible offal (mammalian) differ from the Codex Alimentarius Commission MRLs
(10 mg/kg and 0.02 mg/kg, respectively)
9. Relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available: Australia New
Zealand Food Standards Code  (available in English)
10. Proposed date of adoption:   Notification to Government anticipated in early 2004 with
adoption (gazettal) to follow, pending Government consideration.
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   Date of Gazettal pending Government consideration
(see 10. above).
12. Final date for comments:  17 February 2004
Agency or authority designated to handl e comments:  [ X ] National notification
authority, [   ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:
Food Standards Australia New Zealand
PO Box 7186
Canberra BC ACT 2610Australia
Fax:  + 61 2 6271 2278
E-mail:  info@foodstandards.gov.au
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [   ] National enquiry point,
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   Documents are
available from the Food Standards Australia New Zealand website:www.foodstandards.gov.au/standardsdevelopment .
Copies are also available from:
The Australian SPS Notification Point
GPO Box 858
CANBERRA ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Fax:  +61 2 6272 3678
Email:  sps.contact@daff.gov.au