The 57^th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) kicked off recently in Beijing. Zhang Xingwang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Xu Ming, Deputy FAO Representative to China; Simone Raszl, WHO official; Allan Azegele, Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC); and Sarah Cahill, Secretary of the CAC, attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks. Duan Lifang, Chairperson of the CCPR, presided over the session. 

The session fully acknowledged China’s active contributions over the past 20 years as the chair country of the CCPR, particularly in establishing and revising standards and providing technical support. The session emphasized that ensuring the reliable supply and safety of agro-products worldwide is a shared responsibility of all countries. Therefore, it is crucial to further leverage the CCPR to deepen multilateral cooperation and promote coordination and mutual learning on pesticide residue standards, thus jointly advancing the sustainable development of global agriculture. 

The CCPR is one of the general subject committees under the CAC and is primarily responsible for establishing and revising maximum residue limits for pesticides in food, as well as related technical guidelines and evaluation rules. In 2006, China was elected as the chair country of the CCPR, with its Secretariat set up at the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (ICAMA). China has successfully organized 18 sessions of the CCPR and helped establish and revise more than 6,000 international standards on pesticide residues, making a significant contribution to improving global pesticide residue governance. 

The session, which lasted eight days, focused on reviewing draft standards recommended by the 2025 Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues, 2028–2030 Codex schedules and priority lists of pesticides for evaluation, and the periodic evaluation and management of pesticides with no supporting data, among other issues. More than 300 representatives from 43 member countries and one member organization (the EU), as well as 11 international organizations, attended the session in person, with more than 100 others participating online.