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The European Commission together with the Austrian Presidency of
the Council will hold a conference "Co-existence of genetically
modified, conventional and organic crops – freedom of choice" from
4-6 April 2006 in Vienna, Austria.
This conference is being organised at a very important moment in
time. The EU Member States are currently progressing in their
development of national regulatory approaches to co-existence.
However, the state of development still varies widely among the
Member States. In a
Communication adopted on 9 March 2006, the Commission
provides an overview about the state of implementation of
the national co-existence measures. In addition to this overview of
the regulatory frameworks, the scientific base for technical
measures to ensure co-existence and their socio-economic
implications has recently been reviewed at the international
conference on co-existence in Montpellier in November 2005.
It is now important to communicate the new insights gained to
stakeholders and policy makers and to listen to their views. We
believe that this dialogue is essential to decide about the most
appropriate way forward on this important issue.
This conference should therefore bring together policy makers,
scientists, and a broad range of stakeholders, such as farmers and
consumers associations, NGOs, seed producers, importers, food and
feed processors, etc.
The presentations and discussions will focus on the political
and societal aspects of co-existence, with a particular attention
to regulatory, technical and economic approaches to co-existence as
well as consumer attitudes and market responses.
Attendance at the conference is by invitation only.
Given the international dimension of the issues to be discussed
participants to the conference are delegates invited from primarily
EU Member States and stakeholder organisations operating at EU
level. Representatives of national organisations, enterprises or
individual persons not affiliated to any institution may attend the
conference provided they are formal delegates of a Member State or
of an invited European stakeholder organisation.
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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Detailed Programme
in pdf
4 April 2006
Arrival /
Welcome
5 April 2006
Opening
session - Plenary
Chair: Dirk Ahner, Deputy Director-General,
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the
European Commission
- Opening remarks by the Chair
- Speech by Josef Pröll (Austrian Federal Minister for
Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management) [pdf,
also available in
 ]
- Speech by Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf (Vice-Chairman
of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the
European Parliament)
[pdf
]
Keynote presentations
- "The Danish approach to co-existence" (Hans Christian Schmidt, Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries
[pdf
]
- "Co-existence measures in Germany" (Gerd Müller,
Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and
Consumer Protection) [pdf
]
- "The Dutch approach to co-existence" (Cornelis Pieter Veerman,
Dutch Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) [pdf]
- "Harmonisation of regulatory oversight in biotechnology: the
OECD perspective" (Peter Kearns, Head of the OECD's Biosafety
Programme and Secretary of the OECD's Internal Coordination Group
for Biotechnology) [pdf]
Discussion with
keynote speakers
Afternoon
session: Three parallel workshops
A - "Regional and national approaches to
co-existence in the EU: regulatory frameworks for technical
segregation rules, liability and compensation mechanisms"
Chair: Olivier Bertrand, Member of the Committee of the
Regions
Rapporteur: Søren A. Mikkelsen, Danish Institute of
Agricultural Sciences
-
"The Spanish experience with co-existence after eight years of
cultivation of GM maize" (José Ignacio Ortega Molina, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food ) [pdf]
-
"The rules for co-existence in Lower Austria and requirements for
regulatory frameworks in the EU" (Josef Plank, Minister for Agricultural and Environmental
Affairs, Rural Development of Lower Austria and Chairman of the
Agricultural Ministers Conference of the Austrian Länder) [pdf]
-
"Co-existence measures in the Czech Republic" (Marie Cerovska, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic)
[pdf
]
-
"Agriculture, biodiversity and rural development at regional
level. Which co-existence?" (Susanna Cenni, Minister for Agriculture of the Tuscany region,
Coordinator of the GMO-Free European Regions and Local
Authorities' Network, and Member of the Assembly of European
Regions) [pdf]
-
"Liability and compensation schemes" (Bernhard Koch, Vice-Director of the Research Unit for European
Tort Law of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) presentation [pdf],
speech [pdf]
-
"Co-existence measures in Hungary" (Zoltán Bedö, Director of the Agricultural Research Institute
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) presentation [pdf],
speech [pdf]
- Open discussion
B - "Segregation in farming and throughout the food chain – technical
and economic aspects"
Chair:
Joachim Schiemann, German Federal Biological Research Centre for
Agriculture and Forestry
Rapporteur: Jeremy Sweet, Environmental Consultant and
Vice-chair of the GMO Panel of the European Food Safety Authority,
EFSA
-
"Co-existence - the expectations of the Food and Drink
Industries" (Peter Loosen, Confederation of the Food and Drink
Industries of the EU, CIAA) [pdf]
-
"Co-existence - the seed industry's views and experiences" (Garlich
von Essen, European Seed Association, ESA) [pdf]
-
"The precautionary principle in co-existence management" (Leopold
Girsch, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, AGES) [pdf]
-
"Segregation - challenges for the trade in agricultural
commodities" (Klaus-Dieter Schumacher, European Liaison Committee
for the Agricultural and Agri-Food Trade, CELCAA) [pdf]
-
"Segregation up to the farm gate: Agronomic measures to ensure
co-existence" (Emilio Rodríguez Cerezo, Joint Research Centre of
the European Commission, Institute of Prospective Technological
Studies, IPTS) [pdf]
-
"Co-Extra: Study of GM and non-GM supply chains co-existence"
(Yves Bertheau, French National Institute for Agricultural
Research, INRA) [pdf]
- Open discussion
C - "Consumer attitude and market responses to GMOs, viewpoint of the
stakeholders"
Chair: Bernd Voss,
Member of the European Economic and Social Committee
Rapporteur: George Gaskell, Professor at the London School
of Economics and Political Science
-
"The position of the European Organic Farming Movement and
experiences of GM contamination" (Gundula S. E. Azeez,
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, IFOAM)
[pdf]
-
"Contamination and liability issues for non-GM food, farming and
wildlife" (Helen Holder, Friends of the Earth) [pdf]
-
"Co-existence: COPA-COGECA's views" (Ricardo Serra Arias,
Vice-President of the Committee of Professional Agricultural
Organisations in the European Union, COPA, and Thor Gunnar Kofoed,
President of the seeds working group of the Committee of
Professional Agricultural Organisations in the European Union and
the General Confederation of Agricultural Co-operatives in the
European Union, COPA-COGECA) Mr. Serra Arias: presentation [pdf],
speech [pdf],
Mr. Kofoed: presentation [pdf],
speech [pdf]
-
"EuroCommerce and GMOs: Transparency and choice for consumers" (Brigit
Hofer, EuroCommerce) [pdf]
-
"Co-existence – Choice or denial?" (Simon Barber, European
Association for Bioindustries, EuropaBio) [pdf]
-
"Co-existence and right of choice for consumers" (Barbara Gallani,
European Consumers' Organisation, BEUC) [pdf]
- Open discussion
6 April 2006
Plenary session
Chair: Dirk Ahner, Deputy Director-General,
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the
European Commission
Opening remarks
by the Chair
Presentation by
the rapporteurs of the three workshops
- Presentation by Søren A. Mikkelsen, Rapporteur for Workshop A:
"Regional and national approaches to co-existence in the EU:
regulatory frameworks for technical segregation rules, liability
and compensation mechanisms" [pdf]
- Presentation by Jeremy Sweet, Rapporteur for Workshop B:
"Segregation in farming and throughout the food chain – technical
and economic aspects" [pdf]
- Presentation by George Gaskiell, Rapporteur for Workshop C:
"Consumer attitude and market responses to GMOs, viewpoint of the
stakeholders" [pdf]
Panel discussion with the three rapporteurs of the workshops
and the keynote speakers from 5 April
Joint concluding remarks by Commissioner Mariann Fischer
Boel and Minister Josef Pröll [pdf,
also available in
 ]
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Further information:
Co-existence of genetically modified crops with conventional and
organic farming
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