NEW RULE FOR M`SIAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS TO EU

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's export of agricultural products
to the European Union (EU) market will be subjected to a new rule after the
European Parliament voted in favour of a pesticides regulation last month.

The regulation is aimed at protecting human health and the environment from
dangerous or excessive pesticide use in agriculture production, the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday.

"This legislation is expected to be adopted by the EU council and enter into
force in 2009," the ministry said, adding that the new legislation is planned to
supercede existing EU law gradually.

MITI said in a statement that the local agricultural industry needed to be
more stringent on the use of pesticides to ensure that no banned chemicals are
used.

It said the detectable level of pesticide residues must not beyond the
general default maximum residue level (MRL) of 0.01 mg/kg and might affect other
processed products utilising raw materials sourced from farms.

"This new legislation highlights the EU's increasing shift away from
scientific risk-based assessment of chemicals substances to hazard-based
criteria for granting market authorisation," the ministry said.

During the January to November 2008 period, Malaysia's exports of
agricultural products to European countries rose 12 percent to RM9.13 billion
(US$2.54 billion) in 2008.

The main exports items in this category were palm oil, rubber saw logs and
sawn timber, seafood, fresh, chilled or frozen and other vegetable oil.

However, imports of agricultural products from European countries declined
in the January to November 2008 period by 14.9 percent to RM357.1 million
(US$99.2 million).

Major import items were live animals and meat, other vegetable oil, saw logs
and sawn timber and seafood, fresh, chilled or frozen.
-- BERNAMA