Third International Conference on Coexistence between Genetically Modified (GM) and non GM-based Agricultural Supply Chains - Seville (Spain), 20-21 November 2007
Co-existence refers to the ability of farmers to make a practical choice between conventional, organic and GM crop production, in compliance with the legal obligations for labelling and/or purity criteria. None of these types of agriculture should be excluded in the EU.
The possibility of adventitious presence of GM crops in non-GM crops cannot be dismissed, and may have commercial implications for the farmers whose crops are affected. Consequently, suitable measures during cultivation, harvest, transport, storage, and processing may be necessary to ensure co-existence. Co-existence thus concerns only the economic implications of GMO admixture, the measures to achieve sufficient segregation between GM and non-GM production and the costs of such measures.
Agriculture is an open process, which means that perfect segregation of the different agricultural production types is not possible in practice. Co-existence of these production types which will not lead to a systematic exclusion of one or more of them can only be ensured if the segregation measures are designed in a way that takes these limitations into account.
Experience with the cultivation of GM crops remains extremely limited in the EU. Commercial cultivation has so far been limited to two types of GM maize. In Spain, GM maize cultivation amounted to 58,000 hectares in 2004, or about 12 percent of total Spanish maize cultivation. In other Member States, cultivation is limited to a few hundred hectares. In Spain, GM maize has been grown since 1998 under a non-binding code of good practice.
On 23 July 2003, the Commission adopted a Recommendation on guidelines for the development of national strategies and best practices, to help Member States develop national legislative or other strategies for co-existence. Most Member States are still developing national approaches, with specific co-existence legislation adopted in four Member States (Germany, Denmark, Portugal and six of the Austrian Länder) by the end of 2005. Monitoring programmes still have to be set up and implemented in order to verify the effectiveness and economic feasibility of the measures taken.
Co-existence measures aim at protecting farmers of non-GM crops from the possible economic consequences of accidental mixing of crops with GMOs. The Commission Recommendation states that co-existence measures should not go beyond what is necessary to ensure that accidental traces of GMOs in non-GM products stay below EU labelling thresholds in order to avoid any unnecessary burden for the operators concerned. Measures should be science-based and proportionate and must not generally forbid the growing of GM crops.
Most Member States have based their approaches on management measures applicable at the level of individual farms or in coordination between neighbouring farms. The onus of implementing segregation measures has generally been placed on GM crop growers. The very diverse nature of EU farming means that co-existence measures have to be adapted to local conditions and crop types, and make it imperative to ensure the maximum degree of flexibility for the Member States in developing their national approaches.
The Commission believes there is a need to gather further experience before considering a change in the current subsidiarity-based approach set out in the 2003 Recommendation. However, it intends to take very careful notice of the opinions expressed by stakeholders. The co-existence conference organised in Vienna on 4-6 April 2006 provided for such an occasion. In the meantime, it proposes to strengthen its efforts to ensure the maximum cooperation between Member States; analyse the latest scientific and economic information available on segregation measures; develop jointly with the Member States best practices for technical segregation measures leading to crop-specific recommendations; and obtain more information on national civil liability systems. In 2008, the Commission will report on the progress made, including an update on the development and implementation of national co-existence measures.
European Commission