WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/NOR/22 
6 December 2006 
 (06-5856) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  NORWAY
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:  The Norwegian Food Safety Authority  
2. Agency responsible:  The Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the 
Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food  
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  New products: 
Long-grain rice intended for use as foodstuffs or feedingstuffs, comprised by numbers 10 06 
1010, 10 06 1090 of the Norwegian customs tariff. 
(Already in force: 
Long-grain rice originating in the USA intended for use as food stuff or feeding stuff, 
comprised by numbers 10 06 2010, 10 06 2090, 10 06 3010 and 10 06 3020 of the Norwegian customs tariff. 
Broken rice originating in the US A intended for use as food stu ff or feeding stuff, comprised 
by numbers 10 06 4010 og 10 06 4020 of the Norwegia n customs tariff, except for broken rice 
that is certified free from long-grain rice.)  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
United States  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Norwegian:  Forskrift 9. 
november 2006 nr. 1225 om endringer i forskrif t 18. september 2006 nr. 1068 om krav om 
analyserapport ved import av produktgrupper av  langkornet ris med opprinnelse i USA for å 
unngå innblanding av ikke-godkjen t genmodifisert ris LL 601. 
English:  Regulations 9 November 2006 No  1225 amending Regulati ons 18 September 2006 
No 1068 requiring documentation for imports of certain categorie s of long-grain rice 
originating in the USA, in order to avoid c ontamination by non-approved genetically modified 
rice LL 601.  
6. Description of content:  Each consignment of rice imported to Norway falling within the 
scope of the regulations must be sampled and analysed by the Norwegian Food Safety 
Authority to demonstrate that the consignment does not contain genetically modified rice LL 601.  If the result of the analysis demonstrat es that the consignment contain genetically 
modified rice LL 601, the consignment can not be placed on the marked.  G/SPS/N/NOR/22 
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   The Norwegian Food Safety Authority shall issue an accompanying document indicating 
that the consignment has been subject to offi cial sampling and analysis and setting out the 
result of the analysis.  If a consignment is split, a certified copy of the accompanying document issued by the 
Norwegian Food Safety Authority shall accomp any each part of the split consignment. 
 All costs resulting from sampling, analysis and issuing of the official accompanying document shall be born by the operato r responsible for the consignment. 
 
The regulations above do not a pply to consignments that have already been officially 
sampled and analysed in another EU - or EFTA-country according to equivalent measures 
and that are accompanied by an equivalent accompanying document demonstrating that the 
consignments do not contain genetically modified rice LL 601. 
The Norwegian Regulations are identical to the European Commission's Decision 
6 November 2006 2006/754/EC amending Decision 2006/601/EC on emergency measures 
regarding the non-authorized genetically modifi ed organism LL RICE  601 in rice products.  
7. 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       
The object of the Regulations is to avoid placi ng on the market in Norway rice which has been 
contaminated by non-approved genetically modified rice origin ating in the USA. 
The reasons for the Norwegian Regulations are the same as the reasons stated in the preamble 
of the European Commission's Decision 6 November 2006 (2006/754/EC).  
8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reasons for urgent action:  On 18 August 2006, the 
authorities of the United States of Americ a informed the European Commission that rice 
products contaminated with the genetically modified rice "LL RICE 601", which has not been 
authorised for placing on the market in the Community, had been found in rice samples taken 
on the US market from commercial  long-grain rice from the 2005  crop.  The US authorities 
later informed the European Commission that it is still not known to what extent the supply 
chain has been contaminated and that informa tion on possible contamination of exports to 
Europe cannot be given at present.  In add ition, they informed the Commission that those 
products had not been authorised for placing on the market in the United States either. 
 Not being a member of the European Union, No rway is not subject to the EU's regulations 
concerning genetically modified organisms.  However, Norway deems it important to adopt 
emergency measures against the current risk of contamination of rice presented by the said 
non-authorised genetically modified rice originating in the US A.  For this reason, Norway has 
adopted emergency measures that are identi cal to those of the European Commission's 
Decision 2006/601/EC on a national basis. 
The EU has recently amended the emergency measures already in force in Commission 
Decision 2006/601/EC and due to the above mentioned reasons Norway will now a dopt 
identical amendments in the emergency measures already in force in Norway.   G/SPS/N/NOR/22 
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  9. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [ X ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:        
10. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  The European 
Commission's Decision 2006/601/EC of 5 September 2006 ("On emergency measures 
regarding the non-authorized genetically modifi ed organism LL RICE 601 in rice products"). 
 The European Commission's Decision of 6 November 2006 ( 2006/754/EC) amending 
Decision 2006/601/EC on emergency measures regarding the non-authorized genetically modified organism LL RI CE 601 in rice products. 
Norwegian Regulations 18 September 2006 No  1068 requiring documentation for imports of 
certain categories of long-grain  rice originating in the USA, in order to avoid contamination 
by non-approved genetically  modified rice LL 601.  
11. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  Entry into force: 
9 November 2006  
12. 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:   
13. Texts available from:  [    ] National notification authority, [    ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority 
Head Office 
P.O. Box 383 N – 2381 – Brumunddal Norway  Fax:  +47 23 21 68 01 
E-mail:  postmottak@mattilsynet.no