Brussels, 19 October 2004
Mr. Fischler welcomed the recent adoption by the Danish Parliament of national legislation for the co-existence of genetically modified crops with conventional and organic agriculture. The Danish law, which has recently been formally notified to the Commission, is currently being inspected by the Commission services. As regards the Task Force for co-existence he stressed that the Commission was strongly committed to help Member States in their process of developing national approaches to co-existence. “The Commission is currently in the preparation of setting up a coordination network among the Member States. Even though I believe that co-existence is best addressed on a national or regional level, this does not mean that everybody has to re-invent the wheel. The network will provide the means for mediating the exchange of information on best practices and scientific results obtained by the Member States.”
Concerning the labelling thresholds for the adventitious presence of GM seeds in conventional seed lots, the Commissioner explained that since no thresholds for the adventitious presence of GMOs in conventional seed lots have been established, any seed lot containing GM seeds authorised for the cultivation in the EU has to be labelled as containing GMOs. Seed lots containing GM seeds that are not authorised for cultivation, can not be marketed in the EU.