Italian Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno expressed concern on Tuesday over a World Trade Organisation ruling that the European Union and six member nations had contravened trade rules by banning genetically modified (GM0) crops and foods.
The WTO's preliminary ruling must be confirmed in a month's time and can be also be appealed against. Nevertheless, Alemanno called the decision "serious", saying he feared it could be turn out to be an attack "against the EU's legislative sovereignty."
The minister said the 25-nation bloc's policies have been "consistently coherent" on the GMO issue because the EU has made it clear it was adhering to a "principle of precaution."
According to Alemanno, EU bodies have approved a number of GMO products in recent months and "no country applies a protectionist moratorium on these products." The minister said he had not yet read the WTO's ruling but feared that its "real aim" was to open a breach against the EU's strict labelling laws and 'coexistence' legislation for GMO and traditional crops.
Last year, the Italian parliament approved a law aimed at preventing the contamination of conventional and organic products by GM crops.
The law bans the cultivation of GM crops in open fields, permitting only restricted and protected testing of such organisms.
GMO seeds must be kept strictly separated from conventional seeds and farmers whose crops are accidentally contaminated will receive compensation. The law also gives regional governments to right to decide whether GM crops are allowed at a local level, a measure praised by farmers' associations. The majority of Italy's 20 regions are against GM crops.
The WTO ruling - outlined in a confidential 1,000-page report - said that the EU had applied a moratorium on GMO imports between June 1999 and August 2003, effectively breaking trade rules.
It also condemned safeguard measures against GMOs in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Greece. The ruling addressed a complaint brought against the EU by the US, Canada and Argentina, the world's leading GMO producers.
These countries claimed that the EU's labeling laws break world trade agreements by discriminating against its farmers, given the widespread use of GMOs in the States. They claim there is no scientific evidence showing that GMOs damage human health or the environment.
