FSA Consultation, 11 July 2007
For a copy of the consultation document, see: Draft SI - Corn Gluten Feed
The purpose of the draft Regulations is to transpose Commission Decision 2007/157/EC of 7 March 2007 repealing Commission Decision 2005/317/EC of 18 April 2005 introducing emergency controls on imports from the United States of America of maize products potentially containing or derived from the unauthorised GM line Bt10. Responses are requested by: 1 August 2007
Consultation details
Commission Decision 2007/157/EC was adopted following action within the USA to remove Bt10 maize from commercial use and reports from Member States that, apart from one instance in May 2005, official inspections have not found traces of the Bt10 line in imports of maize products from the USA.
The Agency seeks comments on the repeal of the measures introduced to control potential imports of the unauthorised GM line Bt10.
Background
Commission Decision 2005/317/EC was transposed into law in England by the Feed (Corn Gluten Feed and Brewers Grains) (Emergency Controls) ( England ) Regulations 2005, which came into force on 30 April 2005. These Regulations required importers to provide an original certificate of analysis demonstrating that consignments of these maize products were free of Bt10 before they were first placed on the market.
Member States were required by the Decision to undertake random sampling and analysis of consignments of corn gluten feed and brewers grains imported from the USA to verify the absence of Bt10. Only one instance of Bt10 entering the European Union (EU) was ever detected, in May 2005, when the consignment in question was shipped from the USA before the results of its analysis for this unauthorised GM line were available.
Commission Decision 2005/317 was originally to be reviewed by 31 October 2005. However, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health agreed in October 2005 that in view of the absence of guarantees from the USA about the future treatment of maize harvests that might contain the Bt10 line, the Commission Decision should remain in force for the time being.
The position was reviewed again in January 2007, when it was noted that action had been taken in the USA to ensure that the Bt10 line would not be further propagated or distributed. The Standing Committee therefore agreed that Decision 2005/317/EC should be repealed. Member States were nevertheless required to undertake random sampling and analysis for a further six months to verify the absence of the Bt10 line.
Commission Decision 2007/157/EC was published in the Official Journal on 7 March 2007 and came into effect immediately. However, transposition and any consultation on the transposition has been delayed because of the elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.
Article 9 of European Commission Regulation 178/2002 on the general principles of food and feed law allows consultation to be dispensed with in cases of urgency, but the Food Standards Agency considered that it was questionable whether the Decision warranted urgent action. The Agency therefore decided that action to transpose Commission Decision 2007/157/EC should be deferred until after the elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, and that there should then be a short consultation to allow interested parties time to comment on the issues concerned before the Decision is transposed into national legislation.
The draft Feed (Corn Gluten Feed and Brewers Grains) (Emergency Controls) ( England ) (Revocation) Regulations 2007 will apply only to England . There will be separate but parallel Regulations for Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland , which are subject to separate consultations.