WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/297
13 February 2002
(02-0727)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES CONCERNING
NOTIFICATIONS G/SPS/N/EEC/149 AND G/SPS/N/EEC/150 AND NOTIFICATIONS
G/TBT/N/EEC/6 AND G/TBT/N/EEC/7
The following communication was received from the European Communities on 12 February
2002.
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The European Commission Services have recently notified two proposals to the WTO
Secretariat under the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement):
1. Notification G/SPS/N/EEC/149 of a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council on genetically modified food and feed;
2. Notification G/SPS/N/EEC/150 of a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council concerning traceability and labelling of GMOs and traceability of food andfeed products produced from GMOs and amending Directive 2001/18/EC.
Both proposed regulations lay down a general legal framework applicable to a number of products and
serve multiple policy objectives, so that they were notified under the Agreement on Technical Barriers
to Trade on 30 August 2001 (G/TBT/N/EEC/6 and 7).
The European Communities have now decided to notify both proposals also under the SPS
Agreement, in view of the fact that the potential application of this Agreement cannot be excluded and
also because of the interest the other WTO Members have shown on these proposals in the debates that
took place in the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and of the suggestions made
through the comments received on the TBT notifications.
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