4 Marketing of foods derived from genetically
modified maize
| (26709)
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—
| Draft Council Decision authorising the placing on the market of foods and food ingredients derived from genetically modified Roundup Ready maize line GA 21 as novel foods or novel food ingredients under Regulation (EC) No. 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council
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| Legal base | Article 95EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Food Standards Agency
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 15 July 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnote
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | For debate in European Standing Committee C
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Background
4.1 In order to protect public health, Regulation (EC) No. 258/97[11]
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 do this 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.
4.2 Although a number of products, assessed as being
substantially equivalent to existing conventional foods, have
been notified, no GM food had been authorised under this Regulation
until last year, largely because of opposition from a number of
Member States to the introduction of new GM products, and the
existence of a proposal[12]
for a new Regulation on GM food and feed, now adopted as Regulation
(EC) No. 1829/2003.[13]
However, the marketing of sweet corn from genetically modified
maize line Bt11,[14]
and of novel foods manufactured from genetically modified maize
line NK 603,[15] have
since been authorised by the Commission following the Council's
inability to reach the necessary majority, either for or against
the proposal.
The current proposal
4.3 The current proposal —
for which an official text is not yet available —
arises as a result of an application submitted in the Netherlands
in 1998 for foods and food ingredients derived from the genetically
modified maize line GA 21 to be placed on the market as novel
foods or as novel food ingredients. According to the unofficial
text which we have been sent, the Commission says that, although
the initial assessment report from the Dutch authorities concluded
that the product in question was as safe as those which had been
genetically modified, a number of reasoned objections to its marketing
were made by other Member States. The Commission therefore sought
the views of the Standing Committee on Food, which issued an
opinion in February 2002 essentially endorsing the view taken
by the authorities in the Netherlands.
4.4 The proposal has now been considered again following
the adoption of Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003, and, since no fresh
information has come to light, the Commission submitted to the
Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health in April
2005 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, and it has now
been referred to the Council under the relevant rules of procedure.
These give the Council three months to reach a decision, failing
which the Commission would be able to adopt the Decision unilaterally.
The Government's view
4.5 In her Explanatory Memorandum of 15 July 2005,
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health at
the Department of Health (Caroline Flint) simply says that the
Food Standards Agency has advised that GA 21 maize meets the necessary
requirements for authorisation, and that the UK therefore voted
in favour of this at the meeting of the Standing Committee.
Conclusion
4.6 As we noted in our Report of 4 July 2005,
when we recommended for debate a draft Council Decision authorising
the placing on the market of a maize product genetically modified
for resistance to corn rootworm,[16]
any proposal of this kind is inevitably of considerable interest.
Consequently, notwithstanding the Government's support for the
current proposal, we believe that it too should be debated, in
European Standing Committee C.
11 OJ No. L. 43, 14.2.97, p.1. Back
12
(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
13
OJ No. L. 268, 18.10.03, p.1. Back
14
(25336) 5916/04; see HC 42-xii (2003-04), para 1 (10 March 2004).
Stg Co Deb, European Standing Committee C, 26 April 2004. Back
15
(25790) 11068/04; see HC 42-xxvii (2003-04), para 18 (14 July
2004). Back
16
(26536) 8635/05; see HC 34-i (2005-06), para 2 (4 July 2005). Back
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