www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Commission reports on national measures to ensure co-existence of
genetically modified crops with conventional and organic farming, March
2006.

The development of EU-wide legislation on the co-existence of genetically
modified crops with conventional and organic farming does not appear
justified at this time, in view of the EU?s limited experience with the
cultivation of GM crops and the need to conclude the process of introducing
national measures. This is the main conclusion of a new report from the
European Commission, published today. However, before any decision is taken,
the Commission will engage in an in-depth consultative process with
stakeholders.

A conference in Vienna on 5-6 April will provide an ideal occasion for such
a discussion. Co-existence measures are the subject of a Commission
Recommendation from July 2003. They are designed to ensure that GM crops can
be grown along with non-GM crops without negative economic consequences
caused by accidental mixing of the two. The Commission proposes to work
jointly with the Member States and stakeholders on the development of
recommendations for crop-specific technical segregation measures.

?The development of efficient and cost-effective strategies to ensure
co-existence is vital to ensure a practical choice between GM and non-GM
produce for farmers and consumers,? said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner
for Agriculture and Rural Development. ?This is not a question of health or
environmental protection, because no GMOs are allowed on the EU market
unless they have been proved to be completely safe. To ensure that consumers
know exactly what they are buying the EU has developed an advanced labelling
and traceability system for GMOs. Segregation measures must be in place to
ensure that accidental traces of GMOs in conventional or organic products
are kept within the strict ranges defined by EU legislation. Growing
conditions are very varied from country to country and experience with GM
crops is still limited in Europe. It therefore does not seem appropriate to
propose unified EU rules at this time.?

Experience with the cultivation of GM crops remains extremely limited in the
EU. Commercial cultivation has so far been limited to two types of GM maize.
In Spain, GM maize cultivation amounted to 58,000 hectares in 2004, or about
12 percent of total Spanish maize cultivation. In other Member States,
cultivation is limited to a few hundred hectares. In Spain, GM maize has
been grown since 1998 under a non-binding code of good practice.

On 23 July 2003, the Commission adopted a Recommendation on guidelines for
the development of national strategies and best practices, to help Member
States develop national legislative or other strategies for co-existence.
Most Member States are still developing national approaches, with specific
co-existence legislation adopted in four Member States (Germany, Denmark,
Portugal and six of the Austrian Länder) by the end of 2005. Monitoring
programmes still have to be set up and implemented in order to verify the
effectiveness and economic feasibility of the measures taken.

Co-existence measures aim at protecting farmers of non-GM crops from the
possible economic consequences of accidental mixing of crops with GMOs. The
Commission Recommendation states that co-existence measures should not go
beyond what is necessary to ensure that accidental traces of GMOs in non-GM
products stay below EU labelling thresholds in order to avoid any
unnecessary burden for the operators concerned. Measures should be
science-based and proportionate and must not generally forbid the growing of
GM crops.

Most Member States have based their approaches on management measures
applicable at the level of individual farms or in coordination between
neighbouring farms. The onus of implementing segregation measures has
generally been placed on GM crop growers. The very diverse nature of EU
farming means that co-existence measures have to be adapted to local
conditions and crop types, and make it imperative to ensure the maximum
degree of flexibility for the Member States in developing their national
approaches.

The Commission believes there is a need to gather further experience before
departing from the current subsidiarity-based approach set out in the 2003
Recommendation. However, it intends to take very careful notice of the
opinions expressed by stakeholders. The co-existence conference organised in
Vienna on 5-6 April 2006 will provide such an occasion. In the meantime, the
Commission proposes to strengthen its efforts to ensure the maximum
cooperation between Member States; analyse the latest scientific and
economic information available on segregation measures; develop jointly with
the Member States best practices for technical segregation measures leading
to crop-specific recommendations; and obtain more information on national
civil liability systems. In 2008, the Commission will report on the progress
made, including an update on the development and implementation of national
co-existence measures.

[europa.eu.int]

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