WTO News Item, 17 December 2010
EC — Measures Affecting the Approval and Marketing of Biotech Products (DS291).
The EU noted that its regulatory procedures on biotech products continued to work as foreseen in the legislation. The number of GMOs authorised since the date of establishment of the panel was thirty-four and progress had also been made on other applications for authorisation or renewal. The EU hoped that it would continue its constructive technical dialogue with the US thus allowing the parties to leave litigation aside. The US reiterated the fact that, since August 2010, the EU had not approved a single biotech product application. The US emphasised that the delays resulted in substantial barriers to international trade in biotech products and urged the EU to address the ongoing problems in the approval system for biotech products.