GMO food and feed: agreement on new rules for labelling and authorisation

Copenhagen, 28 Nov 2002

After long and difficult negotiations EUs food- and agriculture ministers have reached a political agreement on the proposal for a regulation on GMO food and feed.

President of the Council, Danish minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Mrs. Mariann Fischer Boel states: "With the political agreement on the proposal we have taken an important step towards offering consumers a real choice when it comes to GMOs. This is an important victory for the European consumers."

The proposal on which the Council has reached a political agreement will imply:

· For the first time, rules are introduced for the use and labelling of GMO-based feed. These rules will correspond to those that apply to GM food. This means marketing of GM feed will be subject to prior approval and that GMO-feed must be labelled

· Labelling will be required for food and feed produced on the basis of GMO material, even if GMOs cannot be identified in the final product, for example in Soya bean oil. The labelling requirement will not apply for adventitious presence of GMOs below a 0,9 % threshold

· In a transitory period a common threshold of 0,5 % will be set for the adventitious presence of non-authorised GMOs that have a positive scientific approval

· A decentralised authorisation procedure is introduced for new GMOs which offers consumers the same guarantees that the centralised procedure proposed by the Commission.

A final adoption of the GMO proposals requires a co-decision between the Council and the European Parliament. Therefore, the Council will now send its Common Position for new consideration by the European Parliament.

Contact information
Head of Division Tage Siboni, +45 20 91 59 07 tsi@fvm.dk
Press Officer Carsten Møller Jensen +45 20 91 59 01 cmj@fvm.dk

Danish Presidency Website http://www.eu2002.dk/main/