maximum residue levels for pesticides on food in june 2004 china raised concerns that the maximum residue limits mrls notified in g sps n eec 236 and 237 were several times higher than the mrls proposed by the codex alimentarius commission and by other developed countries. he requested that the european communities provide scientific justification for its measures or modify the mrls according to relevant international standards. in addition china requested that the european communities extend the time period for implementation of the measure from the date of adoption to one year and provide china with the testing methods for the concerned mrls. the european communities informed the committee that he had been prepared to address chinas concerns on notification g sps n eec 243 which was indicated in the draft agenda and was not prepared to provide specific answers to chinas concerns on the notifications g sps n eec 236 and 237. however a written detailed reply would be sent to china shortly. the representative of the european communities clarified that the proposed date of entry into force in notifications g sps n eec 236 and 237 should read 19 january 2005 instead of 19 january 2004. furthermore some of the codex mrls mentioned by china were proposed for revocation at the next meeting of the codex alimentarius commission. ec mrl standards for pesticide quantities in foodstuffs were higher than international standards in four cases 1 phyto pharmaceutical products which did not lead to detectable levels of pesticides residues in foodstuffs 2 unauthorized use of the pesticides 3 ec authorizations which were unsupported by technical and scientific evidence and 4 residues present in imported foods without sufficient scientific evidence indicating their food safety. in this case the european communities undertook its own assessment and was also willing to consider data submitted by the exporting country. the chair asked the european communities to submit an addendum to clarify the dates on the concerned notifications for the benefit of members not present in the meeting.