News

The first article addresses the EU’s request to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish a panel with respect to Certain measures concerning the production, importation and marketing of pharmaceutical products maintained by Turkey. The request concerns a number of measures on pharmaceuticals, introduced by Turkey in 2016, and intended to promote the local production of pharmaceutical products, which are currently mostly imported. First, the article provides an overview of the relevant measures implemented by Turkey. Second, the article analyses the request by the EU, which considers the measures to be inconsistent with a number of Turkey’s WTO obligations. The article concludes that this is the first case that the EU brings to the WTO against Turkey, which is a candidate country for EU accession since 1999 and has been linked to the EU since 1995 by a Customs Union

The second article addresses the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) announcement on 2 August 2019 that the pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl do not meet certain criteria required by EU legislation for the renewal of their approval in the EU. According to the EFSA, increasing evidence links chlorpyrifos with serious health conditions, including impacts on children’s brain development. The article describes that the approval period for chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl will expire on 31 January 2020, and that the manufacturers applied for a renewal, which is currently being evaluated under the EU’s peer review system for the approval of pesticides. The European Commission reportedly appears supportive of a ban of chlorpyrifos. The article concludes that it appears that the assessment by the EFSA could already mark the end of the peer review, which is in principle still ongoing.

The third article reports that in parallel to the ongoing process of whether or not to renew the current EU-approval of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, on 14 August 2014, the Danish Minister for Food, Fisheries and Equal Opportunities reportedly instructed the Danish National Food Administration to prepare a total ban on food treated with the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Since chlorpyrifos received its first EU approval, eight EU Member States, including Denmark, have reportedly not renewed, or never authorised products containing chlorpyrifos. The article analyses that the import ban announced by the Danish National Food Administration would be based on Article 54 of the EU’s General Food Law Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, which addresses emergency measures for food of EU origin or imported from a third country. The article also looks at the related matter of maximum residue levels (MRLs) for chlorpyrifos and related discussions in the WTO SPS Committee. The article concludes that an eventual Danish or EU-wide ban on food treated with chlorpyrifos would have to be notified by the EU to the WTO SPS Committee and within 10 working days, the Commission would have to put the matter before the EU’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed with a view to the extension, amendment or abrogation of the national interim protective measures.