restrictions on cinnamon in october 2005 and february 2006 sri lanka reported problems with exports of ceylon cinnamon cinnamomum zeylanicum to the european communities in particular to germany on the grounds that the cinnamon contained sulphur dioxide so2 g sps gen 597 . directive no. 95 2 ec and its subsequent amendments on the import of foodstuffs listed conditionally permitted preservatives and additives including so2 and sulphites and maximum tolerated levels in a number of products but not in cinnamon. the chemical evaluation undertaken by the fao who joint expert committee on food additives jecfa in 1998 had shown that the use of so2 in acceptable quantities as a food additive did not produce any adverse effects on human health. the presence of a certain amount of so2 as a food additive had also been permitted in codex and ec standards. so2 fumigation had been applied by the cinnamon industry in sri lanka as an acceptable method to obtain a better colour and to prevent fungus and insects and as there was no direct application of sulphur to cinnamon no residual content of so2was expected to be present in the final product. the current ec restrictions would drastically reduce sri lanka s exports to the ec market and might also have an effect on sri lankas exports to other markets. sri lanka questioned the consistency of the ec measure with article 3.3 of the sps agreement. the codex general standards for food additives indicated that the lack of reference to a particular additive or to the use of an additive in a specific food did not imply that the additive was unsafe or unsuitable for use in food. sri lanka queried whether the ec scientific committee for food had undertaken an assessment of the risk posed by sri lankas cinnamon on human health. in addition sri lanka sought clarification regarding what relevant economic factors had led the european communities to decide that a de facto import ban was the appropriate level of protection required in this situation and if the european communities had taken into account the objective of minimizing negative trade effects when determining the appropriate level of sps protection. sri lanka suggested there was scope for the european communities to provide longer time-frames for sri lanka to comply with ec sps measures on cinnamon as provided for in article 10.2 of the sps agreement. sri lanka requested the european communities to suspend its current de facto ban while his country pursued the development of a codex standard on mrls for cinnamon. sri lanka also requested as a transitional measure that the european communities accept sri lankan cinnamon with an so2 content u to 150ppm until the maximum residue limit for so2 in cinnamon were defined at the international level. china requested that the european communities provide a risk analysis and safety assessment report and expressed hope the issue could be resolve through bilateral consultations. the european communities recognized that the ec legislation on food additives and contaminants had no provision for sulphur dioxide in cinnamon and changing the legislation to allow so2 in cinnamon could be a lengthy process. the european commission had explored the possibility of providing technical assistance to sri lanka to assist in the preparation of this dossier. the european commission had brought ec member states attention to the need to approve so2 as an additive in cinnamon and encouraged member states to adapt their import policies pending the modification of the ec legislation. the representative of codex confirmed that the use of so2 as an additive was currently under discussion at ste 3 in the framework of the codex committee on food additives and contaminants ccfac . the pace of finalization of the discussions depended on contributions and views of ccfac participants. sulphur dioxide had been evaluated by the jecfa in 1998 and was currently allowed on a few commodities. the ccfac would meet the las