Est. 2min 14-10-2002 (updated: 05-11-2012 ) Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: Français | DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram On 14 and 17 October, the Agriculture and Environment Councils were expected to take key decisions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). However, the decisions are likely to be postponed due to major disagreements among the Member States regarding the rules on labelling and traceability of GM products. The most contentious issues for the debates in the Council are: the treshold for labelling foods or feeds that contain GMOs. The Commission wants the products with more than 1% of GM material to be labelled, but the Parliament demanded that this threshold be 0.5 per cent. the legal basis to be used for the granting of an authorisation to place genetically modified food and feed on the market. The Commission is in favour of a centralised authorisation procedure by the European Food Safety Authority, while the Parliament prefers a decentralised procedure. the thresholds set for traces of unauthorised GMOs that have nevertheless been assessed as risk free. With the adoption of the Commission’s package, the Council could decide to lift the unofficial moratorium on authorizing new GM products, in place since June 1999. However, Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg want strict rules on labelling and traceability to be put in place before deciding to lift the moratorium. Read more with Euractiv Poland seeks equal status for its farmers after EU accessionThe Polish Government is considering measures to ensure that its farmers are on equal footing with those in the current EU Member States once Poland enters the Union. Subscribe now to our newsletter EU Elections Decoded Email Address * Politics Newsletters Positions The US administration complains that new tougher rules would be illegal under WTO rules. Washington says that establishing a tougher labelling and traceability regime for GM foods in Europe would be "more trade restrictive than necessary", and should not include animal feeds (even though most GM crops are fed to farm animals). David Byrne, Commisioner for Health and Consumer protection, "wants the moratorium lifted because all the conditions are close to being fulfilled to create a structure and legal framework to allow consumer choice through labelling," according to Beate Gminder, his spokeswoman. Ahead of the Council meetings, Friends of the Earth Europe organised an International Trolley Parade in Brussels on 9 October to protest against the introduction of GMOs on the market. They pushed supermarket trolleys with GM-free food through the streets surrounding the EU institutions. Friends of the Earth believes the moratorium must be upheld until adequate biosafety regulations against the risks of GMOs, and liability rules for GMO producers are in place. They also want to see guarantees protecting food and farmers from contamination and laws requiring the labelling of all GM food and GM animal feed. Alexander de Roo, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament who attended the trolley parade, said: "This protest is a clear signal that European consumers are no longer prepared to be cheated and that European citizens want to know what they eat." Europabio, the association of European biotech industries, calls for realistic allowances for traces of GMOs found in home-grown crops (adventitious presence). Legislation should permit the presence of trace amounts of GM products from the EU's trading partners and must recognise that small traces of approved GMOs will occur in seeds for cultivation. BackgroundOn 25 July 2001, the Commission adopted two legislative proposals to set up a harmonised community system to trace genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This package introduces the labelling of GM feed, reinforces the current labelling rules on GM food and establishes a streamlined authorisation procedure for GMOs in food and feed and their deliberate release into the environment (see LinksDossier on Labelling and traceability of GMOs). On 3 July 2002, the Parliament endorsed both Commission proposals with amendments demanding more stringent rules on traceability and labelling of food products and animal feed containing GMOs (see EURACTIV of 4 July 2002). TimelineI n early November, the Standing Committee on Seeds and Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry will hold an indicative vote on a draft Directive concerning the genetic contamination of seeds.
