CETA and the lowering of European food safety standards

18.2.2020

Question for written answer E-000962/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL)

Two recent reports [1] suggest that the Commission promised Canada it would lower European food safety standards, specifically the maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides. Following regulatory cooperation with CETA, and heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, the Commission seems to have promised to abandon the hazard-based approach, and is willing to grant higher MRLs for hazardous pesticides that are banned in the EU.

• 1.Did the Commission and former Commissioner Andriukaitis inform lobbyists and Canada that ‘after taking into account the concerns raised by stakeholders, Member States and third countries’, products banned according to hazard-based criteria would undergo a risk assessment, and if so, how can the Commission explain and justify this?
• 2.Did the Commission promise Canada that ‘the long-term goal is for the EU to move away from the hazard-based cut-off criteria as a basis for regulatory decisions’, and if so, when did Parliament and Council agree to move away from the hazard-based approach?
• 3.Will the Commission inform Canada that the EU is fully committed to the hazard-based approach, the precautionary principle and transparency, and that MRLs, and import tolerances for hazardous pesticides (cut-off criteria) will not change, and if not, why not?

• [1] https://www.foodwatch.org/fileadmin/-NL/Potential_dangers_of_ceta_committees_on_Europe.pdf