Select Committee on European Scrutiny Fifth Report


5 Marketing of foods derived from genetically modified maize

(26829)

12197/05

COM(05) 338

Draft Council Decision authorising the placing on the market of foods and food ingredients derived from genetically modified maize line MON 863 as novel foods or novel food ingredients under Regulation (EC) No. 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council

Legal baseArticle 95EC; co-decision; QMV
Document originated26 July 2005
Deposited in Parliament14 September 2005
DepartmentFood Standards Agency
Basis of considerationEM of 20 September 2005
Previous Committee ReportNone, but see footnotes
To be discussed in Council24-25 October 2005
Committee's assessmentPolitically important
Committee's decisionFor debate in European Standing Committee C

Background

5.1 In order to protect public health, Regulation (EC) No. 258/97[10] 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.

5.2 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[11] for a new Regulation on GM food and feed, now adopted as Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003.[12] However, the marketing of sweet corn from genetically modified maize line Bt11,[13] and of novel foods manufactured from genetically modified maize line NK 603,[14] 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

5.3 The current proposal arises as a result of an application submitted in Germany in 2002 for foods and food ingredients derived from the genetically modified maize line MON 863[15] to be placed on the market as novel foods or as novel food ingredients. The Commission says that, following the initial assessment report from the German authorities, which concluded that an additional assessment was required because of the presence of an antibiotic resistance marker gene, a number of reasoned objections were raised by some Member States. These objections were referred to the European Food Safety Authority, which took the view that MON 863 maize is as safe as conventional maize.

5.4 The Commission subsequently submitted to the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health in May 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

5.5 In her Explanatory Memorandum of 20 September 2005, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health at the Department of Health (Caroline Flint) simply says that the Food Standards Agency, which is responsible for assessing GM foods, has advised that MON 863 maize meets the necessary requirements for authorisation, and that the UK therefore voted in favour of this at the meeting of the Standing Committee in May 2005.

Conclusion

5.6 As we noted in our Report of 21 July 2005, when we recommended for debate a draft Council Decision authorising the placing on the market of food and food ingredients derived from genetically modified Roundup Ready maize line GA 21,[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.


10   OJ No. L.43, 14.2.97, p.1. Back

11   (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

12   OJ No. L. 268, 18.10.03, p.1. Back

13   (25336) 5916/04; see HC 42-xii (2003-04), para 1 (10 March 2004). Official Report, European Standing Committee C, 26 April 2004. Back

14   (25790) 11068/04; see HC 42-xxvii (2003-04), para 18 (14 July 2004). Back

15   There is also a similar proposal authorising the placing on the market (but not the cultivation) of MON 863 maize itself (26536) 8635/05; see HC 34-i (2005-06), para 2 (4 July 2005). Back

16   (26709) 11928/05; see HC 34-iv (2005-06), para 4 (21 July 2005). Back


 
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