WRITTEN QUESTION E-0941/04 by Robert Evans (PSE) to the Commission. GMOs.
Date: 2004-03-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: biodiversity, environmental liability, environmental risk prevention, genetically modified organism, patent law, producer's liability

8.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 88 E/253

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(23 April 2004)

The Commission is still
following the case of Reverend Damanik whose sentence to three years
imprisonment for illegal possession of weapons was confirmed by the Supreme Court at the end of 2003.
Since Reverend Damanik has already spent more than one-and-a-half years in prison, there is a possibility
of an earlier release.

The Commission Delegation in Jakarta has contacted the human rights non-governmental organisation
(NGO), linked to the Indonesian Church, which has taken over the assistance to Reverend Damanik after
the sentence of the highest court, and was informed that they are assessing the feasibility of starting a new
case, with new evidence/witnesses.

As regards the areas with a high level of religious tensions, the Commission is encouraged by information,
received from local religious groups, that inter-faith groups are set up aiming at co-operation and
reciprocal protection and defence. The Commission has recently received one of these inter-faith groups
active in the Maluku Province.

The Commission is closely monitoring the situation of religious freedom in Indonesia. Moreover, support
to organisations defending minority rights in Indonesia is part of
the Community’s co-operation
programme with the country, in particular through projects supported under the European Initiative for
Democracy and Human Rights.

(2004/C 88 E/0258)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0941/04

by Robert Evans (PSE) to the Commission

(26 March 2004)

Subject: GMOs

Is the Commission aware of the case before the Supreme Court of Canada of Percy Scmeiser v Monsanto?
The case involves the issue of liability in the case of GM crops spreading into conventional or organic
crops as well as the intentional and non-intentional spread of GMOs into the environment on the one
hand and infringement of patent on the other.

Questions have been raised in the court case as to whether infringement of patent can occur even if the
farmers accused of infringement may have themselves been victims of non-intentional spread of GMOs.

In response to Written Question E-0819/03 (1), the Commission referred to its international discussions on
liability and redress in the context of the Biosafety Protocol. Will the Commission be seeking to ensure that
safeguards are included so that a recurrence of such a legal situation may be prevented?

(1) OJ C 78 E, 27.3.2004, p. 358.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2004)

The Honourable Member mentions in his question the case before the Supreme Court of Canada of Percy
Schmeiser v Monsanto regarding an alleged infringement of a patent following the spread of genetic
material into conventional crops.

In the EU, the infringement of patents is governed by the law of the Member States. The Commission is
not aware of the existence of any difficulties of the kind in question within the EU.

The Honourable Member refers in particular to the discussions on liability and redress for damage resulting
from the transboundary movement of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
in the context of the
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

C 88 E/254

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

The First Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological
Diversity, held in Kuala Lumpur in February 2004, agreed to launch a process with respect to the
elaboration of appropriate international rules and procedures in the field of liability and redress. For this
purpose the Meeting of the Parties established an Ad Hoc Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts
on Liability and Redress (cid:1) open to all Parties (cid:1) which will meet five times between 2005 and 2007, and
adopted broad terms of reference for this Group. In addition, the Meeting of the Parties decided that later
in 2004 a technical group of experts will meet to undertake the necessary preparatory work for this
process.

The terms of reference adopted by the Meeting of the Parties are rather broad and leave all options open
for discussion by Parties. It is therefore impossible at this early stage to predict the scope and nature of the
rules and procedures to be adopted at the end of the negotiation process.

The Honourable Member can rest assured that the Commission will do its utmost in the forthcoming
negotiations to achieve workable and effective rules and procedures which will contribute to the
achievement of the objectives of the Cartagena Protocol.

(2004/C 88 E/0259)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0943/04

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(26 March 2004)

Subject: Research programme and multiple sclerosis

The causes of multiple sclerosis are still largely unknown, although it is thought that the disease stems
from a combination of genetic, environmental and immunological factors. Correlating those various factors
could be a way of studying the causes of the disease, 400 000 cases of which have (according to the
European Multiple Sclerosis Platform) been diagnosed in the EU.

In view of the fact that (as stated in Parliament’s resolution A5-0451/2003 (cid:1) P5_TA(2003) 0601 of
18 December 2003) ‘it is essential to enhance the financial resources available for research into multiple
sclerosis within the European Union and to improve the complementarity of research projects given the
combination of factors that are said to trigger the disease’, does the Commission not consider:

1.

2.

that the next Research Framework Programme should include a specific reference in the field of
neuro-degenerative pathologies to diseases of the brain and, in particular, to multiple sclerosis?

that such a commitment should be made a priority under the Seventh Framework Programme, since
the Sixth Framework Programme failed to incorporate disability issues into Community policies and
the amount of research being carried out in the EU into disability and diseases such as multiple
sclerosis has been drastically cut back?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(28 April 2004)

The Commission would like to comment that basic and clinical research on brain diseases and disorders
including multiple sclerosis (MS), are areas of major
and in particular on neurodegenerative diseases,
support in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). Specifically, the first two out of four Calls foreseen for
the sub-priorities ‘Major diseases’ and ‘Application of knowledge and technologies of genomics and
biotechnology for health’ within Priority 1 ‘Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health’ already
offered several topics for Integrated Projects (IP) or Networks of Excellence (NOE) on neurodegenerative
brain diseases and novel therapies (‘Role and mechanisms of protein aggregation in neurodegenerative