THE WTO BIOTECH PRODUCTS DISPUTE AND PRECAUTION AND SCIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL GMO TRADE

摘要

The deadline has been extended for the decision of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel in "European Communities - measures affecting the marketing and approval of biotech products (EC-Biotech)". With a decision postponed until March 2005, it is timely to provide a brief overview of this highly publicised and controversial dispute. Argentina, Canada and the United States brought the complaint against what they regard as a defacto moratorium on the approval of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and derivative products. The moratorium started in 1998, and was confirmed in 1999 when France, Denmark, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg announced their intention to block new GMO approvals until the "Deliberate Release Directive" was revised. The Directive was revised and came into force in late October 2002, along with new rules regarding environmental and food safety of GM crops, and traceability and labeling of GMOs. Only earlier this year did the EC actually recommence consideration of new applications, and the complainants in the WTO biotech dispute point to the EU's the failure to implement its own approvals process. They also challenge the refusal of individual states to accept GMOs that the EC approved before 1999.