new eu mrls for lambda-cyhalothrin in july 2019 china expressed its concern regarding the european unions amendment of mrls of lambda-cyhalothrin in tea from 1 mg kg to 0.01 mg kg without a basis on risk assessment results. china requested that the european union evaluate the health risk to consumers of the original mrl of 1 mg kg and that in the absence of risk to reinstate the original mrl. if the european union implemented new mrls china requests it take into consideration the tea planting and tea production period and to provide a transition period of at least one year for chinese tea producers. the european union provided members with background to the 2018 and 2019 eu regulations on this topic including the efsa-reasoned opinion on which they were based. at that time there had not been sufficient information to establish safe mrls so the limit of determination had been applied. the european union informed china that the regulation had been notified to the sps committee comments had been received and a response had been sent to china. the european union also stated that import tolerances could be requested. in november 2019 china reiterated its concern that the amended eu mrls were not based on risk assessments but rather on the lack of relevant data which was not in compliance with the sps agreement. china again requested that the european union provide a transition period of at least one year for tea producers. paraguay was concerned that the eu mrls had been lowered to 0.01 mg kg for this and other substances even though codex had established appropriate levels and invited the european union to follow international standards to avoid unnecessary restrictions to trade. paraguay noted that this substance was used in corn and wheat production two key export products. the european union recalled its previous statements on this topic and mentioned that although the codex mrls were considered the european union had concluded that there were no safe levels for these commodities which was why the limit of quantification was applied. transitional measures had been applied until january 2019. the european union invited china and paraguay to request import tolerances and to submit information to revise the mrls if deemed appropriate