Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 6 • 3rd April 2006

WTO SPS CTTE Discusses EU Novel Foods Regulation

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At a meeting of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on 29-30 March, several developing countries expressed concerns that the EU’s new draft novel food regulation would hinder their ability to export “small exotic traditional products” based on their rich biodiversity. The original Novel Foods Regulation (Regulation No. 258/97) was drafted during the height of the BSE crises and adopted in 1997, and requires anyone wanting to place a food product on the EU market to first evaluate whether the food is “novel” and, if so, they must subject the food to an rigorous safety assessment. Under the law, novel foods are those which were not used for human consumption to a significant degree within the EU before 15 May 1997, though it may exclude foods “obtained by traditional propagating or breeding practices, and having a history of safe use”. The law, which originally also to covered genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is going through an amendment process that has tried to take into account concerns that the wording and coverage of the regulation is unclear and could hinder the ability of cash-poor but diversity-rich communities to connect with emerging international markets for exotic foods.

At the meeting, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, supported by Paraguay, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Benin and India, said that biodiversity products which have been available in the countries for centuries are safe, and should not be legislatively lumped together with GMOs. The EU responded by saying that the amended regulation was not targeted at biodiversity products, but rather new technologies and products. It added, however, that the category of “biodiversity products” was broad and in the past had included some that have proved harmful. Therefore, the EU said, it was also in the exporters’ interests for their products to be cleared as safe. It said that concerned countries should discuss the new draft regulation in Brussels, where it is still being modified, and promised to explain the draft better to the next SPS Committee meeting.

For more information on the Novel Foods Regulation, see the GTZ Issue Paper on the topic at http://www.underutilized-species.org/documents/nfr/gtz_novel_food_fact_sheet.pdf

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