- France bans imports of food with EU-prohibited pesticides.
- Targets mancozeb, glufosinate, thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim.
- Announced by PM Sebastien Lecornu on January 4.
Food that contains residues of the pesticides glufosinate, mancozeb, thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim, and benomyl cannot be imported, according to a regulation issued on Wednesday.
Due to health and environmental risks, these compounds are currently prohibited for use within the EU, although they were once approved at low residual levels on imported goods. They are applied to a variety of crops, including potatoes, wheat, soybeans, avocados, and mangos.
According to the agriculture ministry, France now considers those maximum residue levels to be excessively high and wants to ensure that goods entering its market meet the same safety criteria as those employed for domestic production.
The advertising appears in conjunction with an extraordinary gathering of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels, where the long-awaited EU-Mercosur agreement is formally being discussed.
The pact would gradually create what authorities refer to as the world's largest free-trade area, encompassing Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and the 27-nation EU, after more than 25 years of development.The
French husbandry organizations, who were previously united over businesses regarding income, environmental standards, and international competition, are pressuring Paris to block the transaction due to a surge of cheaper implications created under laxer restrictions.
The pesticide action has been presented by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu as a "first step" to shield farmers and consumers from what Paris views as unfair competition from manufacturers not subject to EU-level regulations.
Commission officials have stated that they are open to revisiting laws on trace residues of illegal pesticides, although pointing out that these compounds now affect just a small part of the bloc's overall food imports.
If Brussels approves the French rule, it might set a precedent for other EU nations wishing to match trade strategy with stricter domestic environmental and health rules.
Negotiations with Mercosur allies, who have warned against what they regard as covert protectionism masquerading as conditionality based on health or the environment, could be made more difficult, though.
How will enhanced checks at French borders be implemented?
France enforces its new import ban through immediate heightened customs examinations at all anchorages, airfields, and land borders, targeting food shipments with traces of five EU- banned fungicides.
Customs agents conduct 100 laboratory testing on high- threat yield like avocados, mangoes, citrus, grapes, soybeans, and potatoes from non-EU origins, rejecting any discovery above zero forbearance preliminarily permissible at 0.01 mg/ kg via on- point destruction, return to sender, or counterblockade.
The decree activates moment with DGCCRF collaboration for rapid-fire residue analysis, pending EU Commission review on January 20;non-compliant importers face forfeitures up to€ 300,000, aiming to shield French growers from Mercosur competition while bracing for WTO controversies.