BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - European Union health chief John Dalli defended plans adopted on Tuesday to allow member states to ban genetically modified (GM) crops, and said that the EU was ready to defend them in any future trade disputes.
"I will be backing member states with the United States, with the WTO, with whoever will be challenging if a challenge is coming on these issues, because I believe what we’re doing is correct," Dalli told EU lawmakers on Tuesday.
In 2006 the World Trade Organisation largely backed a complaint brought against the EU by the United States, Canada and Argentina, who argued the bloc was failing to apply its own scientific approval procedures to GM products.
With some concerned that the new proposals will again leave the EU open to legal challenges in the WTO, Dalli was asked by lawmakers to clarify what legal basis EU governments could use to justify their national bans.
"What we are doing now is giving them a base of non-scientific reasons, therefore really making it much more flexible than it is today for member states to opt out," he said.
He rejected accusations from some members of the European Parliament that by allowing member states to decide individually on whether or not to grow GM crops, the Commission was trying to wash its hands of the contentious issue.
EU governments have never approved or rejected a GM authorisation decision, instead leaving it to the Commission to break the deadlock, he said.
"So this is not a question of the Commission washing its hands, I think it’s more of putting responsibility where responsibility lies," Dalli added.
STRONG OPPOSITION
The proposals adopted on Tuesday confirmed a twin-track approach set out in drafts seen by Reuters in June, with an amendment to EU rules on GM cultivation accompanied by nonbinding guidelines designed to introduce the change immediately.
In order to pass, the proposed legislative amendment will need the approval of EU lawmakers and a qualified majority of member states under the bloc’s weighted voting system.
But ministers from several EU countries including France and Spain have already criticised the proposals for seeking to dismantle the 27-nation bloc’s common policy on GM crops.
"We hope that decisions will continue to be taken at community level. We don’t support the renationalisation of (GM) decisions," French Farm Minister Bruno Le Maire told journalists in Brussels on Monday.
Biotech companies meanwhile have warned that the proposals will create legal uncertainty and disrupt the EU’s single market for agricultural goods, resulting in a slew of internal market disputes and legal challenges.
But Dalli insisted that the proposals would give greater legal certainty to companies and governments, and said a legal review of the plans had revealed no contradiction with World Trade Organisation rules.
NEXT STEPS
The nonbinding guidelines on the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops take immediate effect, and allow countries to set technical requirements for GM farming that would effectively prohibit it from whole regions and countries.
Until the legislative change is adopted — which Dalli said could take some time — the Commission will continue to apply the existing legislation on GM cultivation.
The Commission will brief governments on the plans in October, and EU environment ministers will hold their first detailed discussion on the proposals on Dec. 20, according to the agenda of the Belgian EU Presidency.
Dalli hinted that a more comprehensive revision of the EU’s GM legislation could happen in 2012, once an external evaluation of the bloc’s policies and a review of the environmental risk assessment for GMOs are both complete.
