Establishment of Maximum Residue Levels for minor uses

The availability of plant protection products that are authorized for minor uses in the European Community is becoming restricted due to the stringent EU review process. An associated problem is the lack of sufficient residues data for minor uses necessary for the establishment of MRLs (Maximum Residue Levels). The policy for MRL setting is focussed on a high protection level for the consumer. Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) forms the basis for MRL setting together with supervised residues trials according to GAP. The MRL can be set when risk assessment shows no risk for the consumer. Rules to extrapolate residues data from major crops to minor crops can sometimes be derived from, for example, morphological properties of the crop, provided the GAP is similar, but for many minor crops this is not possible. In these cases residues trials performed on the minor crop are required to set an MRL, however, performing residues trials is not profitable for the plant protection industry, because of their limited financial return. Activities to facilitate the setting of MRLs for minor crops have been initiated both within the EU and CODEX.