The United States proposes, with Australia as a co-chair, a 2 day workshop on MRL harmonization to be held in October 2018 in Cairns, Australia to supplement the 2^nd workshop that will be held in the same week under the project of “Trade facilitation through harmonization of maximum residue limits for pesticides – Phase 3: development of two implementation tools” (SCSC 05 2017S) that Australia leads. The 2 day workshop will explore areas of MRL regulation and harmonization where consensus around best practices is critical for trade, and support the implementation of the APEC Import MRL Guideline for Pesticides - a guideline on possible approaches to achieve alignment of international MRLs. Topics of the workshop include: a risk-based approach to pesticide testing, communication about pesticide risk to consumers and perceptions of food safety, best practices in establishing MRLs, and other risk-related topics.