International Trade Reporter | Volume 16 Number 49 | December 16, 1999 | By Gary G. Yerkey
The United States and the European Union have agreed to establish a forum involving non-governmental participants whose objective would be to help find a solution to the growing U.S.-EU dispute over trade in bioengineered products made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), a senior EU official said Dec. 10.
John B. Richardson, acting head of the European Commission office in Washington, D.C., said that forum would include representatives of the business, environmental, and consumer communities, as well as other sectors.
He said that details would be worked out over the next couple of weeks.
Richardson said that the decision was taken in a two-hour video-conference between senior U.S. and EU officials on Dec. 9.
He said that the EU was represented by officials from the Commission directorates-general dealing with external relations, trade, environmental protection, consumer affairs, research, and enterprise.
The United States, for its part, was represented by officials from the State Department, Agriculture Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and other agencies, Richardson said.
He said that the discussions within the new non-governmental, trans-Atlantic forum would run in parallel with continuing government-to-government talks aimed at resolving the dispute, which centers on an effective EU ban on imports of bioengineered agricultural products.
"There's broad agreement on this twin-track approach," Richardson said at a news briefing. "The idea is to try to create in the longer term a trans-Atlantic consensus on where we go with biotechnology in the future."
U.S. officials said last month that the high-level talks would begin shortly, focusing on ways to resolve the dispute bilaterally without having to resort to mediation under the World Trade Organization (16 ITR 1862, 11/17/99).
Officials said that, even if the two sides find it impossible to reach agreement, enough progress may be made in the bilateral discussions over the next few months that initiating action in the WTO may not be necessary.
The decision to launch the high-level biotechnology talks was taken at a meeting between President Clinton and European Commission President Romano Prodi in late October (16 ITR 1776, 11/3/99).
The United States and the EU, meanwhile, came close to reaching agreement the week of Nov. 29 on the creation of a special WTO working group on biotechology at the ministerial meeting of the WTO in Seattle, before the talks broke down late on Dec. 3.
