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Clarifying MRL responsibilities under the Food/ACVM Acts

The ACVM Group forms part of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) that is expected to start on 1 July 2002. The responsibility for setting maximum residue limits (MRLs) under the New Zealand (Maximum Residue Limits of Agricultural Compounds) Mandatory Food Standard 1999 will transfer to the ACVM Group at that date. This paper is to clarify the expected changes in operational procedures resulting from the transfer of responsibilities.

Background

The New Zealand Domestic MRL setting process – May 2002 outlines the current* process. In effect the ACVM Group has undertaken the technical work needed in support of an MRL (or a change to an existing MRL) as part of the Animal Remedies and Pesticides Acts approval process, and cost recovered under this legislation.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) functions under the Food Act that will transfer to the ACVM Group are:

•  peer review of any proposals for MRLs,
•  public consultation, and
•  promulgation.

No MoH staff have permanent responsibility for this activity and it tends to be carried out infrequently, which has resulted in high levels of frustration for industry in the recent past.

Proposed operational process

In the main this function will continue to be done as part of the ACVM Act approval process or on request from an applicant. It will be undertaken in relation to an application for a new registration or as part of a request for a variation to a currently registered product, and will be cost recovered as part of the ACVM Act processes. No changes to this activity are proposed.

There is a need for updating the Food Standard to rationalise the definitions and terminology used because this has not been consistent over the period that the legislation has been in place. This work is the responsibility of the MAF Food Residue Coordination Group** at the moment but it is low priority – there is limited funding from any of the business groups (or staff resource) to devote to the activity under MAF Food administered legislation.

There may also be a need for MRLs to change as a result of the transfer of substances under the HSNO Act. It is expected that this work will form part of the programme to update the Food Standard and will not require separate funding. The ACVM Group plans to devote some of the funding from the proposed business case for the NZFSA to this activity, providing the business case is approved.

General
The MoH functions are not cost recovered under the Food Act. It is expected that this will be the subject of future policy development for the NZFSA but that it will be done in conjunction with a general review  of cost recovery across the various pieces of legislation.

Peer review
There is a continued need for peer review to ensure a robust process.  The ACVM Group is investigating options for provision of this in a cost effective manner.

Public consultation
It appears that the public consultation process may be able to be streamlined. At present, several hundred copies of a very comprehensive document are distributed each time with limited (usually under 20 submissions) response. There remains a need for advice to the public on what active ingredients are being considered for a domestic MRL.

Our objective is to develop a communications plan for the MRL setting process that would include some easily understandable information available on the NZFSA website or in hard copy if required. This would mean that the public advice could be reduced to information on what actives are being considered, where to find the process used, and the specific background for interested parties. The specific background material would also be available on the website or in hard copy if required.

Promulgation
No changes to the current process are proposed.

Other

• At the present time there is no regular timetable for the setting of MRLs. The ACVM Group proposes that we set a 'rolling' timetable so that there are two to three sets of MRLs promulgated per year.
• There is no comprehensive listing of New Zealand MRLs (the updates to the Food Standards appear as standalone documents). The ACVM Group proposes to  provide a complete list of MRLs on the NZFSA website. It would be updated each time new MRLs are promulgated.

* The ACVM Group and ERMA New Zealand are working through operational processes that take into account activities under the HSNO Act.

** This group is made up of representatives from the Animal Products Group, the Dairy and Plants Group, the ACVM Group, MAF Food Policy Coordination, and the MAF Policy Codex representatives. It has responsibility across MAF Food for higher level operational policy concerning residues.