CZECH REPUBLIC TO SUPPORT COMMISSION ON BT10 CORN

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000536 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NCE, EB/TPP/ABT/BTT/DMALAC AND EUR/ERA STATE PASS USTR FOR JMURPHY USDA FOR FAX/BIG/BSIMMONS VIENNA FOR FAS/QGRAY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD EAGR TBIO PREL EZ EUN SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC TO SUPPORT COMMISSION ON BT10 CORN VOTE REF: STATE 68058 ¶1. We discussed the impending vote in the Standing Regulatory Committee on Food and Animal Health, relating to imposing a certification requirement on U.S. corn gluten feed that may contain BT10 corn, with two officials at the Ministry of Agriculture on April 14. Both Milena Vicenova, Director of the Department for Food Safety, Technology and the Environment, and Miroslav Elckner, a specialist in the same department, told us that the Czech Republic will support the Commission proposal to impose a certification requirement. We argued strongly that the requirement should be delayed until Commissioner Kyprianou has a chance to meet with his USG counterparts on April 17. Vicenova and Elckner seemed sympathetic to such an idea. Elckner will be in Brussels for the Regulatory Committee meeting on April 15. He and Vicenova both expressed regret that they had not heard our arguments earlier, while the Czech position was being formulated, although they recognized that the Commission has acted rather quickly in this case. They agreed to discuss the idea of delaying implementation until after April 17 among themselves. ¶2. Elckner said that the requirement will not affect the 2005 harvest of corn, which is believed to be BT10-free. He also said that the Regulatory Committee is officially basing its decision not on BT10 content but on failure to follow rules for distribution of the offending feed products. HILLAS