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The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry made remarkable changes with respect to the licensing or annulment of the license for plant protection products with the Turkish Food Codex Pesticide Residue Regulation (“Regulation“). The developments mainly consist of the maximum residue limits (MRLs) and the market availability time of pesticides.
Recent Development
The Regulation was published in the Official Gazette No. 31611 (additional issue) on 27 September 2021 and entered into force on the same date. The Regulation sets forth the terms and conditions concerning the maximum limit of pesticide residue in plant and animal products, and products derived from these. The Regulation abolished the previous Turkish Food Codex Pesticide Residue Regulation dated 25 November 2016. The Regulation is available here (in Turkish).
What’s New?
The Regulation provides the following developments with respect to the licensing or annulment of the license of plant protection products:
- Within the scope of the Regulation on Licensing and Placing on the Market of Plant Protection Products, the MRLs determined for pesticides that will cease to be used after the Regulation’s publication and are not included within the annexes of the Regulation will be applied throughout the shelf life of foods produced before the date of the termination of use of the relevant pesticide.
- Pesticides that are no longer in use will be announced within the plant protection products database.
- The MRLs that will be applied to pesticides that have been licensed or granted temporary use permits for emergencies after the Regulation’s publication will be announced within the plant protection products database.
- MRLs applied to pesticides with temporary use permits for emergencies will be applied throughout the shelf life of foods produced before the date of the termination of use of the relevant pesticide.
- For pesticides where the date of use’s termination is stated within the Regulation, the foods that were produced before this date will be available on the market throughout their shelf life.
- The foods produced before the Regulation’s publication and that comply with the provisions of the abolished regulation will be available on the market throughout their shelf life.
Conclusion
The Regulation sets forth essential changes to pesticide residue. The Regulation foresees a transitional period of three months to comply with the provisions of the Regulation. Companies working in the relevant sector should carefully review the developments and take the necessary actions to ensure compliance.
[1] Chemical drugs used to protect plants and animals from pests.
