WRITTEN QUESTION E-2405/02

by Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 August 2002)

Subject: GMO traceability in imported goods

The European Parliament recently voted on GMOs: traceability and labelling and Food safety: genetically modified food and feed. The Parliament voted for all GM food and feed products to be labelled and to be traceable irrespective of whether they contain modified DNA/protein or not.

Please could you inform me:

- Do all EU countries currently test foods and raw materials for unapproved GMOs at the point of import? For example, do customs and excise offices of Member States have DNA samples from all the GM crops unapproved in the EU?

- Will relevant samples and information to detect GMOs not approved in the EU (but cultivated elsewhere) be distributed to the customs officers of member nations?

- If non-EU governments or biotech companies are not prepared (because of commercially confidential and intellectual property regulations) to provide the necessary information about GMOs grown outside the EU, and not approved in the EU, then would the EU's response be to ban all suspect imports?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(24 September 2002)

The development and validation of detection methods for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and GMO-derived products have been recognised by the Commission as an important element for the implementation in Member States of Community legislation ensuring the safe use and appropriate labelling of these products. As foreseen by the EC Treaty the responsibility for enforcement and control lies within each Member State.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission is co-ordinating a network of competent authorities and laboratories from the Member States. The main objective of this network is to provide enforcement laboratories with appropriate reference samples and with validated test protocols to improve the existing protocols and to promote harmonisation in the development of test methods and in the interpretation of the data generated by them.

Tests are available in Member States to distinguish between EU-approved and non-approved GMOs (see answer to Written Question P-1446/2001 by Mrs Breyer(1)). Access to DNA samples and reference materials for Community non-approved GMOs is more difficult.

This is the reason why the European Community has been advocating strongly the development and exchange of testing methods and reference materials at the international level.

The implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (the scope covers Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) used as raw materials, but not processed food or feed) will inter alia provide for a further mechanism for the exchange of such information. The CODEX Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology recommended that a world-wide register or depository containing relevant information on methods for the detection or identification of foods or food ingredients derived from biotechnology as well as the availability of reference materials should be established. A list of methods validated by inter-laboratory studies has meanwhile been established as a result of an inquiry by a Working Group on Analytical Methods under the chairmanship of Germany. Furthermore, the JRC has decided to host a database on all methods (including non-validated methods) for the detection and identification of GMO reported by Codex member countries in order to make this information accessible to all interested parties via the Biosecurity Portal of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Furthermore, the JRC is in the process of negotiating material transfer agreements with the major companies to provide validated methods for Community approved and Community non-approved GMO varieties to all inspection authorities and to provide certified reference materials not only to inspection authorities but to all operators in the food chain, such as for instance importers of seed, food and feed.

Shipments, whether imported or Community-produced, cannot be rejected a priori on suspicion. It is the Member States' responsibility to carry out controls on a case-by-case basis and to follow-up as appropriate. Member States have reported that samples from imported GMOs have been taken and in cases where non-approved GMOs have been found these imports have been rejected.

(1) OJ C 340 E, 4.12.2001.