Brussels, 20/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The third meeting of the 132 parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (MOP3), held in Curitiba, Brazil, and largely given over to negotiation on the thorny issue of documentation rules for international GMO trade, concluded on 17 March with a compromise which was fully to the satisfaction of the European Commission. The parties reached agreement on criteria rules for genetically modified agricultural products: in particular, the documentation accompanying cargoes of genetically modified agricultural products - whether for human or animal consumption or for processing - will obligatorily be marked “contains GMOs” from 2012. GMO trade between countries which have signed the Protocol and countries which have not ratified it (Argentina, Canada, United States) will be able to continue without the above labelling. “This decision sets out documentation requirements that are clear, meaningful and practical for both exporters and importers of agricultural products, while being consistent with EU law. It provides for legal certainty for the international trade in agricultural commodities. As such, it is a landmark decision that bolsters the role of the Cartagena Protocol,” said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.
Questioned on Monday on the potential impact of such a decision on the trans-Atlantic dispute at the WTO on GMOs (see EUROPE 9127), the Commissioner's spokeswoman Barbara Helferich would not be drawn, pointing out simply that the preliminary report of the competent WTO panel did not call into question the EU's regulatory framework on GMOs.
The Cartagena Protocol is a supplementary agreement to the UN Convention on Biological Biodiversity. This binding international instrument is intended to protect biological diversity and public health against the potentially harmful effects of genetically modified organisms putting in place basic common rules governing their cross-border trade.