Communique- Reinforced EU Import Controls on Pesticide Residues

The Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), through the COMESA–EAC Horticulture Accelerator (CEHA), draws the attention of Member States, competent authorities, exporters, and horticulture value-chain operators to the European Union’s reinforced controls on imported agri-food products, with particular emphasis on pesticide residues.

The European Commission has announced a major reinforcement of official controls affecting products entering the EU market. Measures include a 50% increase in audits in third countries over the next two years, a 33% increase in audits of EU Border Control Posts, closer monitoring of non-compliant commodities and countries with the possibility of increased check frequencies, and the establishment of a dedicated EU Task Force (early 2026) focusing particularly on pesticide residues, among other priority areas. The Commission has further indicated the immediate updating of rules governing imports containing “traces” of particularly hazardous pesticides banned in the EU, aligned to updated international classifications and health protection objectives.

Implications for CEHA exporters and supply chains

These measures materially increase the likelihood of:

  • consignments being selected for checks and verification at EU entry points, particularly where risk signals or prior non-compliance exist; and
  • intensified scrutiny of traceability systems, spray records, and residue-control programmes throughout the supply base.

Mandatory compliance expectations (effective immediately)

All exporters and supply-chain operators supplying the EU market must implement, at a minimum, the following actions:

  1. Adopt a crop-specific “positive list” of permitted pesticides aligned to EU market requirements; prohibit the use of any active substances that are not approved for the intended market.
  2. Strengthen farm-level spray records and PHI enforcement (date, product, active ingredient, dosage, applicator, PHI, block/plot ID). Records must be verifiable and linked to harvest lots and shipments.
  3. Implement risk-based sampling and laboratory testing, including “test-to-release” (hold & release) for high-risk commodities, new suppliers, and any supplier with prior incidents.
  4. Ensure packhouse and aggregation controls, including lot segregation, traceability integrity, cleaning logs, and documented QA release procedures.
  5. Establish an incident response and corrective action protocol (CAPA) for any non-compliance, including immediate containment, root-cause analysis, supplier corrective actions, and documented verification before resuming shipments.
  6. Maintain an audit-ready compliance dossier for each shipment lane (supplier list, pesticide list, spray records, sampling forms, lab certificates, traceability trail, packhouse SOPs, training records).

Actions requested of Member State competent authorities

Member States are encouraged to support exporters through:

  • national guidance on EU residue compliance and banned active substances;
  • strengthened extension messaging and surveillance in export production zones;
  • coordination with accredited laboratories to improve turnaround time and integrity of sampling and testing; and
  • targeted audits/inspections of export packhouses and out-grower schemes to verify traceability and residue-control systems.

Member States and exporters are requested to treat this advisory as urgent and to initiate immediate compliance-strengthening actions to safeguard continued market access and the sustained EU market.

CEHA Secretariat / ACTESA (COMESA)