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 base | Article 95EC; co-decision; QMV
|
| Document originated | 26 July 2005
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 14 September 2005
|
| Department | Food Standards Agency
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 20 September 2005
|
| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnotes
|
| To be discussed in Council | 24-25 October 2005
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | For 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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