EU Clashes on Order for Austria to Lift GMO Bans
Date: 31-Oct-07
Country: LUXEMBOURG
Author: Jeff Mason
The Commission had wanted Austria to scrap its bans on importing GMO maize for processing into food and animal feed.
Now, under EU law, it will gain the legal right to adopt and enforce its own decision -- meaning Austria would be ordered to lift the bans.
Between 1997 and 2000, five European Union countries banned specific GMOs on their territory, focusing on three maize and two rapeseed types approved shortly before the start of the EU's six-year moratorium on new biotech authorisations.
Austria banned two GMO maize types, one in 1997 and the other in 1999. The first ban was against MON 810 maize made by US biotech giant Monsanto and the second against T25 maize made by German drugs and chemicals group Bayer. At least 14 countries voted against the Commission's draft order against Austria but this was not enough under the EU's complex weighted voting system to reject the move.
"The Commission takes note of the strong concerns expressed against the proposal," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told a news conference.
"The Commission will now consider the situation before deciding what to do next, including an assessment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) implications."
Observers say the Commission's various attempts to get countries to lift their GMO bans -- Austria has not been the only example -- is a response to a WTO ruling that attacked the various so-called national GMO safeguards for breaking international trade rules.
The WTO's deadline for the EU to comply with that ruling comes in just a few weeks' time, on Nov. 21.
PREVIOUS REJECTIONS
Assuming the Commission now adopts its own proposal, Austria will have 20 days to lift the two GMO bans after it receives notification from Brussels. If the country fails to do so, it will risk legal action.
This was the third time that Austria, one of the EU's more sceptical countries when it comes to GMO foods, had faced an attempt by EU regulators to force it to lift its biotech bans.
On both previous occasions, in December 2006 and June 2005, EU ministers had rejected similar orders from the Commission.
But this time, the Commission changed its draft text to exclude cultivation, limiting the order to food and feed use. So Austria will retain its ban on growing these two maizes.
"(It's an) important point for environment and agriculture policy in Austria -- we will remain free of gene-technology in cultivation," Austrian Environment Minister Josef Proell said.
He said Austria would submit a new study about health risks related to the two GMO types at issue.
Environmental group Greenpeace was critical, pointing in a statement to what it saw as Commission tactics to get agreement by excluding cultivation.
"This was an attempt to win a majority in Council (of EU ministers), hoping to dismantle the unity of member states against Commission proposals to repeal national bans," it said.
European consumers are well known for their antipathy towards GMO foods but the biotech industry insists its products are safe and no different to conventional foods. Europe's hostility to GMO foods is unfounded, the industry says.
Also on Tuesday, Italy called for an examination of the work done by the European Food Safety Authority and a moratorium on GMO authorisations until that study was completed.
