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