Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 2 • Number 12 • 27th June 2002
European Regulations on Cosmetics and GMOs Under Scrutiny at WTO
European regulations on cosmetics and GMOs under scrutiny at WTO
Much attention at the formal meeting of the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) on 20-21 June focused on various forthcoming labelling schemes of the EC, including for cosmetics tested on animals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Discussion on the European and Chinese GMO regulations also continued at the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) on 25-26 June.
EC asked to delay animal testing regulation
At the TBT Committee, Canada, supported by Japan, expressed concern regarding an EC regulation that would ban the import of cosmetics containing ingredients tested on animals. Canada requested the EC to postpone the legislation and notify it under the TBT Agreement, arguing that the considerable uncertainty currently facing the cosmetics trade was harming exporters. Following an amendment to the Council Directive 76/768/EEC in 1993, the marketing of such cosmetics was supposed to have been prohibited in the EU since 1998, but the ban has not come into effect due to a lack of alternative testing methods and potential problems of WTO compliance. It is now scheduled to enter into force on 1 July 2002. The European Parliament is currently debating another amendment to the Directive — proposed by the European Commission in an effort to alleviate trade concerns — which would ban animal testing, but not the marketing of cosmetics ingredients and products tested on animals.
European and China’s GMO labelling still contentious
Several WTO Members raised concerns regarding the EC’s GMO regime at both the TBT and SPS Committees. At the TBT Committee, Canada and the US reiterated their previous concerns with respect to the EC’s proposed regulation on labelling and traceability of GMOs (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 21 March 2002). Regarding the continued EU de facto moratorium on the approval of new GMOs, the US told the SPS Committee that it would decide next week whether to formally challenge the de facto moratorium at the WTO. The EC said it would respond to the comments in detail soon. Earlier this month, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee had supported amendments to the proposed EC regulation that would lower the threshold for accidental presence of GMOs from 1 to 0.5 percent; would require products such as meat, cheese and eggs from animals fed with GMO feed be labelled; and would keep in the place the de facto moratorium on the approvals of GMOs at least until the new regulation became effective. According to a EU source, the final version of the regulation is expected to be closer to the original Commission proposal as many of the stricter amendments are unlikely to be passed by the Parliament’s plenary session in July.
Discussions also continued at the SPS Committee meeting regarding China’s import regulations for GMOs. In addition to the previously announced regulation, which requires importers of agricultural biotechnology products to apply for official safety verification approval from China’s Ministry of Agriculture (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 21 March 2002), the Health Ministry recently issued a second set of rules scheduled to enter into force on 1 July, which would require importers to also obtain permits from the Heath Ministry. The US criticised China for not yet having notified the regulation at the WTO and called for the regulation’s entry- into-force to be delayed. Similarly to the rules issued by the Agriculture Ministry, the second set of rules did not spell of specifics, again creating confusion among traders. Subsequent to the SPS Committee meeting, the Ministry of Health clarified that permit applications for GMO foods covered by the Agriculture’s Ministry’s regulation should be filed with the Health Ministry after 1 July, but permits would only be required from 1 January 2003.
The next meeting of the TBT Committee is currently scheduled for 15-17 October, including a workshop on technical cooperation on 16 October.
ICTSD reporting; “Parliament’s Environment Committee rejects effort to weaken traceability, labeling rules,” IER, 19 June 2002.