. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/AUS/121
11 October 2000
(00-4162)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  AUSTRALIA
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA)
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable).  Processed corn food  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the
extent relevant or practicable:  All countries
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Draft risk analysis reports for:
• Application A385 – Food derived from insect-protected Bt-176 corn (81 pages);
• Application A386 – Food derived from insect-protected, herbicide-tolerant Bt-11
corn (74 pages)
5. Description of content:  These documents describe the scientific assessments undertaken
and recommend the addition of these products to the list of approved foods in Standard A18Food Produced Using Gene Technology of the Food Standards Code .  The reports result
from an application for the approval of food derived from corn lines produced using gene
technology to be listed in Standard A18.
Bt-176 and Bt-11 corn lines are not currently grown in Australia.  However, domestic
production of corn in Australia is supplemented by a small amount of imported corn-basedproducts, largely as high-fructose corn syrup, which is not currently manufactured in
Australia.  Corn products are processed into breakfast cereals, baking products, extruded
confectionery and corn chips.  Other corn products, including maize starch used by the food
industry for the manufacture of dessert mixes and canned food, are also imported.  In
addition, sweet corn varieties are also grown for human consumption.
Australia previously notified members of a proposal to establish a standard requiring a pre-
market safety assessment of foods derived from gene technology on a case-by-case basis.
6. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [    ] animal health,  [    ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [    ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Australian Food
Standards Code  (Available in English)G/SPS/N/AUS/121
Page 2
9. Proposed date of adoption:  In late 2000 pending Government approval anticipated late
2000.
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  Not known, expected in early  to mid 2002 (pending
adoption in late 2000, see 9. above).
11. Final date for comments:  15 November 2000
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [    ] National notification
authority, [    ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:           
12. Texts available from: [  X ] National notification authority, [     ] National enquiry point
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  Australia New
Zealand Food Authority quoting Applications A385 and A386.
Australia New Zealand Food Authority
PO Box 7186
Canberra Mail Centre  ACT  2610
Australia
Fax:  (+61) 2 62712278E-mail:  info@anzfa.gov.au
This measure was also notified by New Zealand.