Voluntary Report - public distribution

**Date:** 2/10/2005

**GAIN Report Number:** E35026

E35026

**EU-25**

**Biotechnology**

**Twenty EU Regions Defend Right to Ban Biotech Production**

**2005**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)Norval Francis

U.S. Mission to the EU

**Prepared by:**

Stan Cohen

**Report Highlights:**

20 EU regions met in Florence, Italy on February 4 to sign a charter
proclaiming their right to declare themselves \"GMO-free\" regions. The
regions intend to work within the current EU legal framework to ban
biotech production. This could mark a shift in strategy stemming from
previous setbacks. In 2003, Upper Austria\'s attempt to impose a ban met
with failure when the EU Commission ruled that Austria failed to provide
sufficient scientific evidence to justify a ban. Similarly, the EU
Commission has raised legal concerns about Germany\'s new coexistence
law. Josef Stockinger, Upper Austria\'s agriculture minister commented
\"\... that in Berlin recently, Agriculture Commissioner Marianne
Fischer-Boel recognized that there are insecurity and doubts related to
the coexistence of crops. Without the intervention of the Commission,
nothing serious can be done.\"

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Brussels USEU \[BE2\]

\[E3\]

Twenty EU regions met in Florence on February 4 to sign to a charter
proclaiming their right to declare themselves "GMO-free" regions. The
organizers intend to work within the current EU legal framework to ban
GM production in their regions. This could mark a shift in strategy
precipitated by previous setbacks. In 2003, Upper Austria's attempts to
impose a ban on GM production met with failure the EU Commission ruled
that Austria failed to provide sufficient scientific evidence to justify
a ban. Likewise, the Commission has raised legal concerns with Germany's
new coexistence law. Josef Stockinger, Upper Austria's agriculture
minister and a founder of the regional network commented "...that in
Berlin recently, Agriculture Commissioner Marianne Fischer-Boel
recognized that there are insecurity and doubts related to the
coexistence of crops. Without the intervention of the Commission,
nothing serious can be done."

The network of 20 GMO free regions is comprised of: Italy (Sardinia,
Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Lazio, Bolzano); France (Aquitaine,
Brittany, Ile-de-France, Poitou-Charentes, Limousin); Austria (Upper
Austria, Salzburg, Steiermark, Burgenland); the United Kingdom (Wales,
the Highlands and Islands of Scotland); Spain (the Basque area); Germany
(Schleswig-Holstein), and Greece (Drama-Kavala-Xanthi).

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**[www.useu.be/agri/usda.html]{.underline}** provides a broad range of
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**Related reports from USEU Brussels:**

+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| **Report     | **Title**                          | **Date          |
| Number**     |                                    | Released**      |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E35008       | The EU's Biotech Regulatory        | 1/13/05         |
|              | Process: Who's Being Protected     |                 |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E34096       | The EU's Biotech Regulatory        | 12/3/04         |
|              | Process---                         |                 |
|              |                                    |                 |
|              | A New Tower of Babel               |                 |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E34078       | EU Commission Approves Monsanto's  | 11/1/04         |
|              | Biotech Corn, NK603                |                 |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E34057       | MON810 Biotech Corn Enters EU      | 9/9/04          |
|              | Common Catalogue                   |                 |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E34009       | Update on the EU's Biotech         | 5/6/04          |
|              | Approval Process                   |                 |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E24069       | Antibiotic Resistance Marker Genes | 4/21/04         |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E24045       | Safe as Conventional Rapeseed      | 4/4/04          |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E23234       | Bt11 Sweet Corn                    | 12/9/03         |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+
| E23233       | Safe as Conventional Corn          | 12/8/03         |
+--------------+------------------------------------+-----------------+