The Andean Community (CAN) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) held a joint technical meeting to discuss possible revision of current Andean Norms on chemical pesticide registration, and review draft Andean norms on post-registration surveillance and control of chemical pesticides and on registration/post-registration controls for biological pesticides.
8 June 2012: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the Andean Community’s (CAN) Andean Agricultural Health Committee (COTASA) held their first joint technical meeting on pesticide control for four CAN member countries – Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The meeting, held from 5-8 June 2012, in Bogota, Colombia, was part of a FAO technical assistance project on strengthening technical and institutional capacities in the registration and post-registration monitoring and control of pesticides used in agriculture.
Participants analyzed the interpretation, application and implementation in the four countries of CAN Decision 436, creating the Andean Norm for the Registration and Control of Chemical Pesticides for Agricultural Use (1998), as amended in 2002 by Decision 515, and CAN Resolution 630, creating the Andean Technical Manual for the Registration and Control of Chemical Pesticides for Agricultural Use (2002), with a view to updating the Manual and possibly the Decision as well. Participants also examined the text of proposed Andean Norms in two areas: post-registration surveillance and control of chemical pesticides; and registration and post-registration surveillance and control for biological pesticides.
As part of the project, FAO also is training CAN member countries in the evaluation of toxicological and other data submitted with pesticide registration applications, and helping CAN develop a sub-regional system for the recognition and quality control of toxicological and chemical analysis laboratories. [FAO Press Release (in Spanish)]