CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY - ITALY

UNCLAS ROME 004872

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

STATE FOR OES/ETC H.LEE AND EB/TPP/ABT R.SINGH
STATE PASS USDA FOR FAS/BIG JPPASSINO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EAGR ETRD TBIO EAID IT
SUBJECT: CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY - ITALY

REFS: (A) STATE 259661, (B) ROME 4563, (C) ROME 4809


1. (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET
DISTRIBUTION.


2. (U) SUMMARY: Per ref A, on December 10, SCI Specialist
discussed Italy's views on biosafety with Marco Vetrano,
Director of the Biosafety Division of the Italian Ministry
of Environment. Vetrano stated that Italy ratified the
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety on February 4, 2004 with Law
27/2004, and added that one of his consultants presented the
Italian Biosafety Clearing House to the EU Commission at
that time. According to Vetrano, the only new Italian
regulation that could relate to biosafety is the draft
decree law on the coexistence of biotech and non-biotech
crops. See paragraph 3 and ref B for details on this
important piece of legislation, which is still under
discussion in the Italian Parliament. The recent annulment
of a four-year old Italian law that banned commercialization
of four biotech corn varieties is discussed in paragraphs 4-
7 and in ref C. END SUMMARY.

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DRAFT COEXISTENCE DECREE LAW: COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE
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3. (SBU) On November 11, the Italian Cabinet passed a
decree law on the coexistence of biotech and non-biotech
crops. The decree law came into effect November 29 upon its
publication in the GOI's official gazette, but must be voted
into law by the Italian Parliament within sixty days, or the
decree law will lapse. Overall, the decree is inimical to
the planting of biotech seeds in Italy because it imposes a
moratorium on the sowing of GM seed in Italy through the end
of 2005, by which time each of Italy's 20 regions must issue
its own coexistence plan. During this moratorium phase,
Italian farmers are still subject to current regulations,
which impose the penalty of imprisonment for farmers who sow
GM seed. Starting in 2006, according to the decree, Italian
farmers would be able to cultivate GM seeds, as long as the
farmers adhere to the regional coexistence plans. The new
decree also calls for the formation of a committee of
federal and regional experts, representing a wide range of
views, to define technical guidelines on coexistence. We
understand, however, that the committee will be headed by a
known anti-GMO official from the Environment Ministry.
Although the information above points to negative aspects of
the decree law, Post's agricultural section reports that
some major Italian biotech seed producers believe the
current decree law is an improvement over previous drafts
that had been considered. One improvement is that, in
contrast to previous versions, the decree law stipulates a
date by which the Italian regions must have a coexistence
plan in place. We emphasize that following parliamentary
debate, the final law could be slightly different from the
current one, so the Department should view this information
as preliminary and not draw firm conclusions. We will keep
the Department and other addressees informed of the outcome
of the legislative debate.

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RESTRICTIVE "AMATO" DECREE ANNULLED
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4. (SBU) Ref C reports the annulment of a four-year old
Italian law called the "Amato Decree", affecting GMOs rather
than living modified organisms. We believe that this recent
court action represents a positive step toward a more
science-based Italian biotechnology policy. Under Italian
law, both sides in the dispute may still appeal the
annulment, but Post has no reason to believe that either
side will take this step.


5. (U) By way of background, on August 4, 2000, Giuliano
Amato, the Italian Prime Minister at the time, issued a
decree (later called the "Amato Decree") in response to a
campaign launched in the fall of 1999 by some environmental
groups against seven GM products (four corn and three
rapeseed varieties). The Amato decree was published in the
Italian Official Gazette on August 8, 2000, and became
effective on August 23. It "suspended" the commercialization
and use of four GM corn varieties already authorized by the
EU and marketed for both food and feed uses: BT 11
(Novartis),MON 810 (Monsanto),MON 809 (Monsanto) and T 25

(Aventis),while the three rapeseed varieties were dropped
from the decree.


6. (U) On November 29, 2004, the Regional Administrative
Tribunal (TAR) of Latium annulled the Amato Decree. The
ruling resulted from a lawsuit submitted in November 2000 by
three leading seed companies and a biotech association. The
ruling concurred with the European Court of Justice's
opinion that such a ban was justifiable only if a Member
State could demonstrate scientific evidence of risk to
humans. Four years under the Amato Decree has affected U.S.
exports to Italy; in particular, the decree law obstructed
Italian imports of U.S. corn products, such as corn gluten
feed and corn oil, as well as corn, even during a year of
drought here in Italy.


7. (SBU) COMMENT: It remains to be seen whether U.S. corn
and corn products can reestablish their presence in the
Italian market. END COMMENT.
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2004ROME04872 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED