Brussels, Belgium
April 2, 2009
Member States have made
significant progress in developing coexistence legislation
during the last years. This development of the legislative
framework has gone hand in hand with a moderate expansion of the
cultivation of GM crops. At the present time there is no
indication of the need to deviate from the subsidiarity-based
approach on coexistence. The Commission will continue to develop
recommendations for crop-specific technical segregation measures
together with Member States and stakeholders. These are the main
conclusion of the second report from the
European Commission on the
coexistence of GM crops with conventional and organic farming,
published today.
15 Members States have adopted legislation on coexistence, 11
more than in 2006 when the first coexistence report was
published. Another 3 Member States have notified draft
legislation to the Commission.
The coexistence approaches applied in Member States differ with
respect to administrative procedures and the technical
specifications of segregation measures. These differences
reflect the regional variation of agronomic, climatic and other
factors determining the likelihood of GMO admixture to non-GM
crops. In view of further enhancing the efficiency of national
coexistence measures, the European Coexistence Bureau (ECoB),
created by the Commission, is developing, in collaboration with
the Member States, crop specific Best Practice Documents.
The Commission is convinced that the subsidiarity-based approach
on coexistence has been the right choice and it sees no need to
develop further harmonisation on this matter. The Commission is
committed to strengthening its efforts to facilitate
co-operation among Member States, to promote a science-based and
practical approach on segregation measures. In 2011, the
Commission will report on the progress made, including an update
on the development and implementation of national coexistence
measures.
Background:
Measures ensuring coexistence of genetically modified crops with
conventional and organic agricultural production provide for
choice of consumers and agricultural producers and, thus,
reconcile individual preferences and economic opportunities.
Whilst environmental and health aspects of GM crop cultivation
are to be addressed beforehand during the authorisation
procedure, coexistence measures have their focus on the economic
impact.
The segregation measures applied under coexistence rules enable
the cultivation of GM crops, while protecting farmers of non-GM
crops from adverse economic consequences of accidental mixing of
crops with GMOs. Following the Commission Recommendation of
2003, coexistence measures shall be science-based and
proportionate and must not generally forbid the growing of GM
crops.
EU experience with the cultivation of GM crops remains extremely
limited in comparison with other regions of the world. The only
GM crop currently cultivated in the EU is GM maize which is
resistant to certain lepidorpteran pests. In 2008, GM maize was
produced in the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Portugal,
Romania, and Slovakia on a cultivation surface of about 100 000
hectares equalling 1.2 percent or the EU's total maize area.
Please see:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/coexistence/index_en.htm |
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