Fwd: US pushes forward on WTO case against EU

[Guest guest]

21 Aug 2003 12:09:03 -0000

 

News Update from The Campaign

US pushes forward on WTO case against EU

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

----

 

Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

The United States is pushing forward on the World Trade Organization

(WTO) case it filed in May against the European Union (EU) over their

moratorium on genetically engineered foods.

 

The EU argues that the case is not necessary since they recently passed

new labeling laws that open the door for the moratorium to be lifted.

 

The U.S. doesn't think the new labeling regulations will lift the de facto

moratorium, and that may be a correct assumption. France, Germany,

Italy, Austria, Luxembourg and Greece are not eager to approve any new

genetically engineered products because they know consumers do not want

them approved.

 

So the WTO case over the EU moratorium will continue to move forward.

 

A bigger question may be whether or not the U.S. will file an additional

WTO case charging that the new EU requirements for labeling genetically

engineered foods are an unfair trade barrier.

 

Posted below are three articles that cover the recent developments. The

first short article from Associated Press is titled " Washington asks WTO

to probe EU biotech policy " and just provides the basic facts.

 

The second article from Bloomberg titled " U.S. Asks WTO to Outlaw EU Ban

on Gene-Modified Food " goes into significant detail. It is much longer,

but contains a lot of good information about the ongoing dispute.

 

The third article from British newspaper The Guardian titled " US

escalates GM food row with Europe " provides the European perspective on

the battle.

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign

for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass

legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered

foods in the United States. "

 

***************************************************************

 

Washington asks WTO to probe EU biotech policy

 

GENEVA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday formally asked

the World Trade Organisation to declare the European Union's refusal to

accept most genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as illegal under

global trade rules.

 

The request, which was opposed by the EU, could ratchet up tensions

between the two trade giants as WTO members struggle for agreements on

trade reform ahead of a crucial ministerial meeting next month in

Mexico.

 

The United States, supported by Canada and Argentina, first announced in

May that it planned to take the EU to the WTO over the issue and

reaffirmed its intentions earlier this month.

 

As it was a first request to the WTO's disputes settlement body (DSB)

for an investigation by trade judges, WTO rules allow the EU, as the

defendant, temporarily to block the move.

 

However, the panel will automatically be formed when Washington repeats

its request at the next meeting on August 29.

 

" We regret this move to an unnecessary litigation, " EU Trade Commission

Pascal Lamy said in a statement.

 

" The EU's regulatory system for GMOs is clear, transparent, reasonable

and non-discriminatory, " he said, adding that the bloc was confident the

WTO would reject the U.S. complaint.

 

But the United States says the Europeans, who have not allowed new

genetically modified crops to be imported or grown in the Union's 15

member states since 1998, have shown no willingness to end the embargo.

 

Last month, EU farm ministers approved a labelling programme for biotech

food and animal feed which was seen as an important step towards lifting

the moratorium.

 

But Washington says that there is no scientific evidence pointing to

human health or environmental problems related to biotech products and

argues that the EU programme does not go far enough.

 

The WTO investigation, when it is finally launched, could take up to 18

months, including a likely appeal by the loser.

 

08/18/03 08:12 ET

 

***************************************************************

 

U.S. Asks WTO to Outlaw EU Ban on Gene-Modified Food

 

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Canada and Argentina called on the

World Trade Organization to outlaw a European Union ban on genetically

engineered foods that U.S. farmers say has cost them $1 billion in lost

sales over five years.

 

The world's three biggest growers of gene-altered crops asked the

Geneva-based trade arbiter to order the EU to lift a roadblock to

approving modified seeds that a French-led group of six countries put up

in 1998. The EU counters that it has taken away the barrier.

 

``Every step of the process has been completed, but still there are no

new approvals,'' said Lisa Dry, communications director for the

Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents Monsanto Co. and

other genetic engineering companies in the U.S. ``If that's not a

moratorium, I don't know what is.''

 

At stake for the U.S. are markets for transgenic seeds produced by

companies including Monsanto, Dow Chemical Co. and Pioneer Hi-Bred

International, a unit of DuPont Co., to help farmers grow crops that

resist pests and disease. The U.S. argues that other countries, from

Brazil to Zambia, are using the EU's restriction to justify prohibitions

on the crops.

 

Poor countries, especially in Africa, could improve their food security

and curb hunger if they invested in that technology, U.S. President

George W. Bush has charged.

 

The EU says labeling legislation it approved last month makes the case

at the WTO irrelevant. U.S. farm and food groups have already called on

the Bush administration to challenge those regulations, too.

 

Formal Request

 

The U.S. made the formal request to constitute a trade panel in Geneva

today, which the EU blocked. Under WTO rules, the U.S. can repeat the

request before the end of the month, and the EU won't be able to stop

the case from progressing.

 

A trade ruling will address only part of the issue. European consumers

oppose foods derived from genetically modified organisms, or GMOs,

surveys show. Opponents cite economic, environmental and health

concerns, including worries that a handful of companies will control

food supplies.

 

The crops are produced through artificial insertion of genetic material

from other organisms, including bacteria.

 

``Whether GM crops are grown or consumed in the EU won't be determined

at the WTO, but by the market,'' said Graham Brookes, an independent

agricultural economist in Canterbury in the U.K.

 

More than 70 percent of European say they won't eat genetically modified

foods, even if they are cheaper, according to an EU survey.

 

Escalating Dispute

 

The European Commission, which drew up the new labeling laws that make

genetically modified organisms traceable through the food chain, says

approval of those rules by the EU's 15 member states enables the six

nations behind the moratorium to drop their prohibition on new products.

The EU has threatened to take the six -- France, Germany, Italy,

Austria, Luxembourg and Greece -- to court to press them to approve new

biotech foods.

 

And the trade dispute may yet escalate.

 

The U.S. has already said it's examining the new labeling laws and may

lodge another challenge at the WTO. Both the Grocery Manufacturers of

America, whose members include General Mills Inc., and the American Farm

Bureau, the largest U.S. farm organization, describe the new rules as

another trade barrier.

 

``As the rules are being proposed, they'll need to be challenged,'' Bob

Stallman, the farm bureau's president, said.

 

Consumer Choice

 

EU officials they are acting on behalf of their consumers.

 

``Only a month ago, we updated our regulatory system on GMOs in line

with the latest scientific and international developments,'' EU Health

Commissioner David Byrne said in a statement issued in Brussels. ``Clear

labeling and traceability rules are essential to help restore consumer

confidence in GMOs in Europe.''

 

The U.S., Canada and Argentina say the legislation isn't in effect and

still faces obstacles in the six countries that support the moratorium.

 

``We'll only see some changes at the margins with the new labeling

regulations,'' said Brookes, a former economist at the Centre for

European Agricultural Studies at Wye College, University of London.

``Most of the food companies (in the EU) that wanted to avoid GMOs have

already done it.''

 

BEUC, a Brussels-based European consumers' organization, supports

labeling because it gives shoppers the choice whether to eat genetically

modified food. American consumers can't know whether the products they

eat contain gene-modified ingredients because labeling isn't required in

the U.S., BEUC says.

 

Focusing on Perceptions

 

About 60 percent of all packaged foods in the U.S. contain

soybean-derived ingredients, and the main soybean suppliers are U.S.

companies.

 

``The line being followed by the European Commission gives the best

promise in the longer term of acceptance by consumers,'' Jim Murray,

BEUC's director, said in a telephone interview. Labeling will let

shoppers determine whether to eat food containing gene-modified

ingredients, he said. ``The perception that it's being forced on people

would further demonize the whole technology.''

 

In a separate action, Mexico asked the WTO to order the U.S. to refund

13 years' worth of what it calls illegal anti-dumping duties levied on

Mexican cement imports. The U.S. has imposed duties of more than 40

percent since 1990 as a means of preventing Mexican shipments of gray

Portland cement from flooding the U.S. market.

 

***************************************************************

 

US escalates GM food row with Europe

 

Andrew Osborn in Brussels

Tuesday August 19, 2003

The Guardian

 

Europe's dispute with America over genetically modified food escalated

yesterday after Washington asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to

force the EU to lift its five-year-old ban on new GM food products.

 

In a move which raises the prospect of a fresh trade war just a month

before crucial world trade talks in Mexico, America requested the

formation of a WTO dispute settlement panel to decide once and for all

who is right on GM technology. The call was backed by Argentina and

Canada.

 

Washington said it hoped that the panel - which could take up to 18

months to pronounce - would rule that the EU's failure to allow the sale

of 30 US biotech products on precautionary grounds was illegal.

 

The EU response was immediate and curt. It said it regretted the move,

blocked the formation of the panel (something it is allowed to do only

once), and claimed that the case would confuse already sceptical

European consumers.

 

" We regret this move to an unnecessary litigation, " said Pascal Lamy, EU

trade commissioner.

 

" The EU's regulatory system for GMOs [genetically modified organisms] is

clear, transparent, reasonable and non-discriminatory. We are confident

that the WTO will confirm that the EU fully respects its obligations. "

 

EU environment commissioner Margot Wallstrom warned that the US move

could backfire.

 

" There should be no doubt that it is not our intention to create trade

barriers. But my concern is that this request will muddy the waters of

the debate in Europe. We have to create confidence among citizens for

GMOs and then allow them to choose. "

 

A de facto EU moratorium on all new GM product approvals has been in

place since 1998 because of widespread public unease about the

technology.

 

The EU has recently finalised strict new rules on the authorisation and

labelling of such products which it argues means that the moratorium is

now dead in the water and that new GM products can be approved.

 

However, most EU member states are still dragging their feet over

letting in new products and Washington is growing impatient.

 

If it wins the WTO case the EU could be forced to authorise the sale and

marketing of the 30 biotech products in question and might have to

compensate US farmers for their losses.

 

Those are estimated at nearly $300m (£189m) a year in lost corn exports

alone.

 

Linnet Deily, the US WTO envoy, said yesterday that the EU's restrictive

GM policy was unfair to other countries and held back a technology that

holds " great promise for raising farmer productivity, reducing hunger

and improving health in the developing world, and improving the

environment " .

 

However anti-GM campaigners said the US was trying to force unwanted

food on Europe.

 

" The US administration, funded by the likes of GMO giant Monsanto, is

using the undemocratic and secretive WTO to force feed the world GM

foods, " said Martin Rocholl, of Friends of the Earth Europe.

 

" Decisions about the food we eat should be made in Europe and not in the

White House, the WTO or Monsanto's HQ.

 

" We welcome the European commission's commitment to fight this

aggressive US policy. "

 

The EU argued yesterday that even the American public wanted GM food

labelled, saying that a recent poll found " a whopping 92% of Americans "

favour biotech crop labelling.

 

GM food is just one of several issues where the EU and the US are at

loggerheads.

 

Disagreements over steel tariffs, US tax breaks for multinationals, and

the US practice of feeding cattle growth hormones continue to sour the

transatlantic relationship.

 

***************************************************************

 

If you would like to comment on this News Update, you can do so at the

forum section of our web site at: http://www.thecampaign.org/forums

 

***************************************************************

 

 

 

---------