1 / 17

Austrian Position (milestones)

GMO Policy in Austria (national strategy on cultivation and Co-existence, relevant legislation in Austrian Provinces ) by Heinz-Peter Zach International Conference in Riga – 10 December 2010. Austrian Position (milestones). Petition for a referendum (Gentechnik-Volksbegehren) 1997:

martin-perez
Download Presentation

Austrian Position (milestones)

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. GMO Policy in Austria (national strategy on cultivation and Co-existence, relevant legislation in Austrian Provinces)by Heinz-Peter Zach International Conference in Riga – 10 December 2010

  2. Austrian Position (milestones) • Petition for a referendum (Gentechnik-Volksbegehren) 1997: • 1,2 Mio. (21% of eligible voters) signed a petition: • No food from GMOs • No deliberate release into the environment of GMOs • Only 21% of all the Austrians are in favour of GMO food • according to Eurobarometer Special Survey 2005 • 2005 Upper Austria, Styria, Salzburg & Burgenland joined the • Florence Charter for GMO-free regions. Meanwhile all the • Federal States are declared GMO-free regions • Resolution of all 5 political paties against the application on • genetic Engineering in Austrian agriculture, dated 11 March 2009

  3. GVO-cultivation: global – EU - Austria

  4. Competences(Constitution; Authorities) • Marketing of GMOs: State; Federal Ministry of Health • Cultivation of GMOs: Federal States (die Länder) • Co-ordination of Co-existence: Federal Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management • Technical questions of cultivation: Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety • Environmental risk assessment: Federal Office of Environment (Umweltbundesamt)

  5. Legal Sources(competences) • Law on Genetic Engineering (Gentechnikgesetz):Federal Ministry of Health • Genetic Engineering Precautionary Laws: Federal States (die Länder) • Act on Seeds/ Regulation on GMO-Seeds/ Regulation on cultivated areas for seed-production : Federal Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management

  6. National Strategy in Austria – Co-ordination • Authority for GMOs: Ministry of Health • Working Group in the Federal Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management • Expert Group for establishing federal guidelines for the management of Co-existence • Co-operation between the Authorities

  7. Law on Genetic Engineeringrelevant provisions for Länder • Federal Register: • Metadata on places of GMO cultivation • Take over of essential data from the provincial registers (place, area, GMO-UI, source) • Civil Liability: • Burden of proof is mainly up to GMO-farmer • Compensation for economic damage and environmental sanitation measures • Dispute settlement by an official mediator before going to the court

  8. Legislation – Genetic Engineering Precautionary Laws • Legal Procedure: • 2 schemes: Legal authorization (Salzburg; NÖ, B, W, ST) or duty to give notice (Carinthia; T, OÖ) • Conditions by authority or rejection are possible • Financial precaution may be ordered to the applicant • Transparency: • Information by public registration • Duties of the applicant towards his neighbours • Compensation: • By the GMO-grower in the case of illegal release • Relates to the caused damage (estimated value of harvest) • Restoration of the state before the release

  9. Legislation - Act on Seeds (contamination) • Regulation on GMO-Seeds (Saatgut-Gentechnik-Verordnung) • GMO-labelling of seed of GMO-varieties and GMO-contaminated seed • Absence of GMOs in basic-seed used for Austrian seed-multiplication (certificate) • Tolerance level for contamination of 0,1% GMO within the marketing of certified seed in Austria (in enforcement & post control) • Monitoring-program by the authority

  10. Legislation - Act on Seeds (co-existence) • Regulation for cultivated areas for seed-production (Saatgut-Anbaugebiete-Verordung) • Stipulation of species for closed multiplication areas (Swedish turnip, Maize, Swede and Turnip Rape, Fodder Turnip, Sugar and Fodder beet, Potato) • Stipulation of areas by the Länder; assistance by the Seed Authority

  11. Situation of Scenarios • Present scenario: • De facto GMO-free zone • Prevention of GMO-contamination in Austrian seed production • National Bans on GMO concerning cultivation are in force, also GMO-varieties concerned • Co-existence scenario: • Regional procedure for cultivation of GMO-varieties • Elaboration of Federal Guidelines for the Management of Co-existence (Expert-group of AGES) is still outstanding in lack of practice • Cooperation with neighbouring States – mutual information on GMO-cultivation

  12. National Strategy in Austria - Cultivation • 2009: Initiative concerning the right of self-determination of • Member States on GMO-free cultivation • Summer 2010: Proposal of the European Commission • for a legally binding right for self-determination • Spring 2011: Statement of European Parliament • Defending of Austrian bans on cultivation in Bruxelles • and perpetuation of very strict formulations of Genetic • Engineering Precautionary Laws in the Länder

  13. NationalStrategy in Austria – feeding stuff • Intiative on protein crops by advisory service for farmers (Agricultural Chambers): • first outcome: production of sojabean could be extended from 25.000 to 34.000 ha (+36%) in 2010 (sojabean cannot be replaced in pig and poultry • fattening!) • moreover: By a third of sojaimports (rund 500.000 t) • can be replaced by DDGS (Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles ), proper for feeding of ruminant animals).

  14. Competitive without GMOs • In the last 10 years: seed multiplication tripled (from • 2000 up to 6000 ha maize seed multiplication area) due • to increase in demand of guaranteed GMO-free seed • maize. • Futhermore big international seed industries offer GMO- • free varieties for seed multiplication and trade! • Genetically modified seed is more expensive than • conventional seed. • GMO-seed has not made much progress in EU.

  15. Maize yields per ha in tons: US (GMO) and Austria Source: Austria: Statistik Austria, AMA USA: United States Department of Agriculture

  16. Conclusions Austrian Legislation safeguards Co-existence and GMO-free cultivation as well. So far no disadvantages have appeared from waiving of GMOs in agriculture. International engagement is necessary to maintain GMO-free production. National initiatives are necessary to be able to offer GMO-free food.

  17. Thank you for your attention !

More Related