EU loses ruling on modified foods

The World Trade Organization on Tuesday ruled that European countries broke international trade regulations by preventing imports of genetically modified foods.

Argentina, Canada and the United States -- which brought the dispute to the WTO -- said the decision proved there was no scientific evidence to justify the ban. The three urged the 25-nation European Union to immediately bring into compliance its laws on genetically modified organisms.

In a somewhat surprising development, the EU did not postpone the decision through an appeal. Environmentalists blasted Brussels for bypassing the chance to appeal Tuesday’s decision.

U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Peter Allgeier said, “The findings of the panel uphold the principle of science-based policymaking over unjustified, anti-biotech policies.” He added that the EU’s policies “have perpetuated an unjustified trade barrier that has impeded both U.S. exports and the global use of a technology that promises great benefit to farmers and consumers around the world.”

The EU, however, signaled its intention to ignore the WTO’s finding that its six-year moratorium on the products beginning in 1998 violated international rules. It said it ended the moratorium in 2004, when it allowed onto the market a modified strain of sweet corn grown mainly in the U.S., and argued that it had come into compliance with the subsequent approval of further biotech crops.

“As a result, most of the findings of the panel have become theoretical,” EU trade negotiator Raimund Raith said. “There’s no basis for claiming that the [EU] is maintaining the moratorium.”

Genetically modified foods are controversial on both sides of the Atlantic. European governments such as Germany and France, as well as a number of environmental groups in the U.S., contend that many such crops are unsafe for humans and the environment.

The WTO’s 1,148-page verdict -- the longest ever issued by the Geneva-based body, which sets the rules for global commerce -- was confidentially handed out in May after a three-year investigation.

It did not rule on whether current EU legislation was illegal and sidestepped the issue of whether biotech foods were safe. But it concluded that the EU had breached its commitments with respect to 21 products, including types of oilseed rape, maize and cotton. It also said individual bans in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg were illegal.

Raith asked the complainants for “a reasonable period of time” to work with its member states on their national legislation. He said Brussels had decided not to appeal the decision “despite many reservations” regarding the arguments and conclusions of the report because its biotech regime was now functioning properly.

But Washington has said it will continue with its WTO case until it is convinced that all applications for approval are being decided on scientific rather than political grounds.