18 Marketing of foods derived from genetically
modified maize
| (25790)
11068/04
COM(04) 439
| Draft Council Decision authorising the placing on the market of foods and food ingredients derived from genetically modified maize line NK 603 as novel foods or novel food ingredients under Regulation (EC) No. 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council
|
| Legal base | Article 95EC; co-decision; QMV
|
| Document originated | 24 June 2004
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 5 July 2004
|
| Department | Food Standards Agency
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 12 July 2004
|
| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnote
|
| To be discussed in Council | 19 July 2004
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
18.1 In order to protect public health, Regulation (EC) No. 258/97[49]
lays down the procedures which must be observed before novel food
and food ingredients —
including those containing or consisting of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs), or produced from, but not containing, such organisms
—
may be placed on the Community market for the first time. In general,
anyone wishing to place them on the Community market is required
to submit a request to the Member State concerned, providing the
necessary supporting information. The Member State must then produce
within three months an initial assessment, and, if no further
information is required, or no other Member State has raised an
objection, it may authorise the applicant to place the product
on the market. However, if the initial assessment indicates that
additional information is required, or if another Member State
raises an objection to the request, any authorisation decision
has to be taken by the Commission on the basis of the opinion
of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.
18.2 Although eleven products, assessed as being
substantially equivalent to existing conventional foods, have
been notified, no GM food had been authorised under this Regulation
until this year, largely because of opposition from a number of
Member States to the introduction of new GM products, and the
existence of a proposal[50]
for a new Regulation on GM food and feed, now adopted as Regulation
(EC) No. 1829/2003.[51]
However, approval was recently given to a proposal authorising
the marketing of sweet corn from genetically modified maize line
Bt11.[52]
The current proposal
18.3 The current proposal arises as a result of an
application submitted in the Netherlands in 2001 for foods and
food ingredients derived from the genetically modified maize line
NK 603 to be placed on the market as novel foods or as novel food
ingredients. The Commission says that, although the initial assessment
report from the Dutch authorities concluded that the product in
question is as safe as conventional sweet corn, a number of reasoned
objections to its marketing were raised, thus requiring a Community
decision. The Commission therefore sought the views of the European
Food Safety Agency, which issued an opinion in November 2003 essentially
endorsing the view taken by the authorities in the Netherlands.
In the light of this, the Commission submitted to the Standing
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 30 April 2004
a draft Decision granting a Community authorisation to the product
in question. However, that Committee failed to reach a qualified
majority in favour of the proposal,[53]
which has now been referred to the Council under the relevant
rules of procedure. These give the Council three months (until
30 July 2004) to reach a decision, failing which the Commission
would be able to adopt the Decision unilaterally.
The Government's view
18.4 In her Explanatory Memorandum of 24 February
2004, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health
at the Department of Health (Miss Melanie Johnson) says that the
Food Standards Agency has advised that NK 603 maize meets the
necessary requirements for authorisation, and that the UK therefore
voted in favour of this at the meeting of the Standing Committee.
She also points out that there has been no public consultation
on this proposal, since Standing Committee and Council decisions
take place at short notice following publication of the relevant
decision.
Conclusion
18.5 As we noted on 10 March 2004, when we recommended
for debate the draft Council Decision authorising the placing
on the market of sweet corn from genetically modified maize, any
proposal of this kind is inevitably of considerable interest.
However, in that particular case, we were conscious that the
proposal was the first of its kind relating to food (as opposed
to animal feed), and, although it is obviously right that the
current document should be drawn to the attention of the House,
we do not on this occasion think that the proposed approval raises
any new issues which need to be debated, particularly as it has
been supported by the Food Standards Agency. We are therefore
clearing it.
49 OJ No. L.43, 14.2.97, p.1. Back
50
(22635) 11576/01; see HC 152-xii (2001-02), para 3 (16 January
2002).Stg Co Deb, European Standing Committee C, 9 July 2002. Back
51
OJ No. L. 268, 18.10.03, p.1. Back
52
(25336) 5916/04; see HC 42-xii (2003-04), para 1 (10 March 2004).
Official Report, European Standing Committee C, 26 April 2004. Back
53
The proposal received 50 votes in favour (Belgium, Finland, France,
Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and UK), 19 against (Austria,
Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal), and 18 abstentions
(Germany and Spain). Back
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