By Commission Regulation (EC) No 1213/2008 a first coordinated multiannual Community programme, covering the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, was established. That programme continued under consecutive Commission Regulations. The latest one was Commission Regulation (EU) No 1274/2011 of 7 December 2011 concerning a coordinated multiannual control programme of the Union for 2012, 2013 and 2014 to ensure compliance with maximum residue levels of pesticides and to assess the consumer exposure to pesticide residues in and on food of plant and animal origin.

Thirty to forty foodstuffs constitute the major components of the diet in the Union. Since pesticide uses show significant changes over a period of three years, pesticides should be monitored in those foodstuffs over a series of three-year cycles to allow consumer exposure and the application of Union legislation to be assessed.

On the basis of a binomial probability distribution, it can be calculated that examination of 642 samples allows, with a certainty of more than 99 %, the detection of a sample containing pesticide residues above the limit of determination (LOD), provided that not less than 1 % of the products contain residues above that limit. Collection of these samples should be apportioned among Member States according to population numbers, with a minimum of 12 samples per product and per year.

Analytical results from the 2010 official control programme of the Union have shown that certain pesticides are more commonly present on agricultural products than previously, indicating changes in the use pattern of those pesticides. Those pesticides should be included in the control programme in addition to those which were covered under Regulation (EU) No 1274/2011 in order to ensure that the range of pesticides covered by the control programme is representative of the pesticides used.

The analysis of certain pesticides, in particular those added to the control programme by this Regulation or those with very difficult residue definition, should be optional in 2013 in order to allow time, for official laboratories to validate the methods required for the analysis of those pesticides, in case they have not yet done so.

Where the residue definition of a pesticide includes other active substances, metabolites or breakdown products, those metabolites should be reported separately.

Guidance concerning ‘Method Validation and Quality Control Procedures for Pesticide Residue Analysis in food and feed’ is published on the Commission website. Member States should be allowed, under certain conditions, to use qualitative screening methods.

Implementing measures, such as the Standard Sample Description (SSD) for submitting results of pesticide residues analysis, relating to the submission of information by Member States have been agreed by Member States, Commission and European Food Safety Authority.

For the sampling procedures Commission Directive 2002/63/EC of 11 July 2002 establishing Community methods of sampling for the official control of pesticide residues in and on products of plant and animal origin and repealing Directive 79/700/EEC which incorporates the sampling methods and procedures recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission should apply.

It is necessary to assess whether maximum residue levels for baby food provided for in Article 10 of Commission Directive 2006/141/EC of 22 December 2006 on infant formulae and follow-on formulae and Article 7 of Commission Directive 2006/125/EC of 5 December 2006 on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children are respected, taking into account only the residue definitions as they are set out in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005.

It is also necessary to assess possible aggregate, cumulative and synergistic effects of pesticides when methodology becomes available. This assessment should start with some organophosphates, carbamates, triazoles and pyrethroides, as set out in Annex I.

As regards single residue methods Member States may be able to meet their obligations of analysis by having recourse to official laboratories already having the validated methods required.

Member States should submit by 31 August of each year the information concerning the previous calendar year.

In order to avoid any confusion due to an overlap between consecutive multiannual programmes, Regulation (EU) No 1274/2011 should be repealed in the interest of legal certainty. It should, however, continue to apply to samples tested in 2012.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,