AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY:CODEX AD HOC TASK FORCE

UNCLAS MADRID 002985 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/AGS, EB/TPP/ABT - JACK BOBO DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/SLUTSKY DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/FAS/ITP FOR WOOLSEY DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/FAS BSIMMONS DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/FAS/FAA FOR BLEGGI BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AG MINCOUNS EU POSTS TO AGRICULTURE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR ECON TBIO SP SUBJECT: AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY:CODEX AD HOC TASK FORCE ON BIOTECH FOODS REF: A. (A) AUGUST 12 ¶B. 2005 SCHONANDER-BOBO E-MAIL (B) STATE 147159 ¶1. Trade policy officer discussed contents of ref B on August 12 with the GOS working-level head of the interministerial working group charged with coordinating Codex issues. His name is Juan Carlos Calvo (Ministry of Health). Tel : 34 - ¶9133808883. E-mail: jcalvo@msc.es He will not be attending the meeting in Japan. Maria Dolores Gomez (Ministry of Health; Tel: 34 - 913380836; e-mail: mgomezv@msc.es) and Maria Teresa Calvo (Ministry of Agriculture; Tel: 34 - 913475045; e-mail: tcalvosa@mapya.es) will represent Spain. ¶2. Calvo said that the GOS is going to coordinate its final positions in an inter-ministerial meeting on August 26 in advance of an EU meeting on the subject in Brussels on September 1. He added that the GOS and the EU support our proposal on staples. Moroever, labeling and the environment should be dealt with in other Codex committees or other international bodies as far as the GOS and the EU were concerned. Calvo had no information on GOS views with respect to developing guidance for the food safety assessment of low levels of material derived from transgenic plants. ¶3. Comment: Embassy's sense is that as Health and Agriculture are representing Spain, GOS policies will be science-oriented and pragmatic However, Spain has a history of not rocking the boat within the EU unless the issue is of great national importance so the EU "consensus" coming out of the September 1 meeting will shape Spain's views. We have little sense for how active Spain will be in the September 1 meeting in Brussels. AGUIRRE