US embassy cable - 03ROME5127

UNCLAS  ROME 005127 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
USDA FOR OSEC HEGWOOD 
USDA FOR OSEC SIMMONS 
STATE PASS USDA/FAS BLUM AND E. JONES 
STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR, ETRD, IT, EUN 
SUBJECT: PROPOSED COEXISTENCE DECREE COULD EFFECTIVELY BAN 
BIOTECH CROPS IN ITALY 
 
REF: A. (A) MILAN 465 
     B. (B) MILAN 512 
     C. (C) MILAN 512 
     D. (D) MILAN 523 
     E. (E) ROME 3481 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified. 
 
 1. (SBU)  Summary:  Agriculture Minister Alemanno has 
drafted a decree-law that could effectively ban GM planting 
in Italy -- almost certainly in 2004 and quite possibly 
beyond.  He plans to present it at an upcoming meeting of the 
Council of Ministers.  If enacted, the decree law would apply 
criminal sanctions for any use of GM seeds in any Italian 
area where EU-recognized "DOP" foods are planted.  While 
Alemanno may simultaneous agree to lift the so-called Amato 
Decree (banning four varieties of EU-approved GM corn), the 
proposed coexistence decree would put in place an even more 
restrictive regime.  Several GOI ministers dislike Alemanno's 
anti-biotech crusade, but our discussions to date indicate 
that few, if any, ministers are willing to actively oppose 
the decree law, in order not to aggravate growing tensions 
within the governing coalition.  Nevertheless, Ambassador's 
discussions of U.S. concerns this week at the Office of the 
Prime Minister and at the MFA offer grounds for optimism that 
the GOI may not act as precipitously as Alemanno wishes 
(details reported septel).  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Embassy Ag Attache has obtained a copy of a decree 
law on coexistence, drafted by Minister Gianni Alemanno's 
agriculture ministry, that was recently circulated to other 
concerned government ministries and to regional governments. 
While the language of the draft legal decree is vague, it 
purports to establish the regulatory framework for the 
coexistence of transgenic, conventional, and organic 
cultivation in Italy.  In fact, Embassy believes that it 
would institute a de facto ban on biotech crops, certainly in 
2004 and probably beyond.  If adopted by the Council of 
Ministers, these coexistence rules will take effect 
immediately and be subject to Parliamentary ratification 
within sixty days.  According to Alemanno, beginning in 2004, 
any Italian region in which products registered under the 
EU's scheme of geographical indications and denominations of 
origin ("DOP") are produced will be declared GM-free. 
Beginning in 2005, Italy's 20 regions will be given the 
discretion to make this decision. The law includes sanctions 
and criminal penalties, including prison terms.    MinAg 
officials have told us that this decree law will be proposed 
to GOI,s Council of Ministers as early as  November 14. 
 
Draft Alemanno Decree-Law 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU)  Highlights of the draft decree law are: 
 
-- Adventitious presence (AP) of biotech material is limited 
in conventional seeds to "below the detectable level" and 
prohibited (zero tolerance) in organic seeds. 
 
--  Agricultural production must give consumers a choice 
between transgenic and non-transgenic products.  A separate 
production line must keep transgenic from organic and 
conventional lines. 
 
-- For the 2004 planting season, no biotech seeds may be 
planted in Italian regions now producing products protected 
under the EU "DOP" regime. Beginning in 2005, each region 
will determine which areas may be declared GM-free and what 
distances will be required between non-biotech and biotech 
plots.  Each regions will also be allowed to designate 
GM-free areas for "structural reasons incompatible with 
co-existence." 
 
-- The onus of keeping biotech separate from conventional and 
organic production is placed on the grower of biotech crops. 
Those growers who fail to keep biotech separate can be fined 
2,600 to 25,900 euros and may be imprisoned. 
 
-- The decree law establishes a Ministry of Agriculture 
institution for research on the environmental impact of 
biotech, charged with monitoring transgenic production. 
 
4.  (SBU) After obtaining leaked drafts of the draft decree 
 
 
law, Agatt and Senior Agricultural Specialist met November 5 
with the Agricultural Minister's Diplomatic Advisor Raffaele 
de Lutio and with MinAg  Chief of Food Quality Giuseppe 
Ambrosio to confirm the text of the draft coexistence decree 
law and to clarify the draft's many ambiguities.   Ambrosio 
confirmed the text of the draft decree and that it would soon 
be presented to the Council of Ministers.   A 2004 seed 
circular would subsequently give more specifics on 
adventitious presence of GM in conventional seed shipments. 
Ambrosio argued that the decree was not so bad as it appeared 
-- it did mention the concepts of GM planting and 
coexistence.  Perhaps one day conditions would permit the 
actual planting of GM seeds.   That time, however, has not 
yet arrived, according to Ambrosio.  Asked to explain whether 
the draft decree's "separate production line" applies to 
cultivation in Italy or also for imports of soybeans and meal 
for feed, Ambrosio denied that this would apply to imported 
feed ingredients.  He stated that it was valid only for crops 
grown in Italy.  (Note: The "separate production line" 
appears to add significant burdens to producers of EU-allowed 
biotech crops, exceeding the requirements of the EU,s agreed 
Traceablity and Labeling and Food and Feed laws. ) 
 
Adventitious Presence - Zero Tolerance 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
5.  (SBU) The draft coexistence decree-law proscribes 
adventitious presence (AP) of biotech in seeds.  The absence 
of an EU-agreed Seed Directive gives Alemanno what he 
believes to be the freedom to continue to stipulate zero 
tolerance.  Alemanno created havoc in the summer of 2003 with 
zealous enforcement of his second annual ruling on what 
levels of AP are admissible in seeds for planting, reported 
extensively in reftels A, B, C, D, E.  Alemanno,s seed 
plans, as set forth in the new coexistence law, will feature 
more of the same, although he will also give more specifics 
in a 2004 Seed Circular.  MinAg officials point to improved 
prospects for U.S. seeds exports because the Circular's seed 
protocol has been tweaked by widening the sample size to 
3,000 seeds.  This may slightly improve the chances for U.S. 
seed to comply with this strict threshold. 
 
Good-bye Amato Decree, Hello (Non)Coexistence 
 
6.  (SBU)   Ambrosio confirmed that, in conjunction with the 
introduction of the coexistence decree-law, Minister Alemanno 
will  move to repeal the Amato Decree, which bans four 
EU-approved biotech corn varieties.  Repeal of the Amato 
Decree has been promised privately on numerous occasions, but 
on November 5 Minister Alemanno was quoted in the press as 
claiming that a the Amato Decree is being repealed 
principally because of pressure from the EU.  (Note: Since 
August 2000, the Amato Decree, although challenged in the 
European Court of Justice, has been upheld.  This was based 
on reasoning that the Precautionary Principle allowed Italy 
to put the ban in place "temporarily" because the GOI had 
doubts about the EU review of health and environmental 
effects of biotech corn. Italy was thus allowed to prohibit 
biotech corn based on doubts alone, unsubstantiated by any 
empirical evidence. This impeded imports of corn for feed 
(corn gluten feed ingredients) and corn seeds for planting. 
End Note.) 
 
Reaction:  Predictably Mixed 
------------------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU)  There has been mixed initial reaction among 
Italy,s agricultural interests to the proposed decree. One 
of the three farmers, organizations raised objections, one 
expressed reservations about the law's vagueness, and one 
endorsed the draft law. The organization Confederazione 
Italiana Agricoltori,s publicly stated reservations are 
cautious, in line with the organization's past reluctance to 
publicly declare itself in favor of biotech for fear of the 
appearance of caving in to multinational corporate pressure. 
News reports tallied twelve of Italy,s twenty regional 
agriculture advisors as favoring the draft law.  Reaction 
among other groups follows predictable lines with greens and 
environmental groups applauding the measures. 
 
Embassy Analysis:  Implications of the Decree 
 
8.  (SBU)   There are no regions in Italy without products 
 
 
registered under the EU,s scheme of geographical indications 
and denominations of origin.  EU-protected products in Italy 
number over 125, and none of them are candidates for gene 
flow from any biotech cultivation that could be contemplated 
by Italian farmers in the near future.   If adopted, this law 
could potentially keep biotech out of Italy for the 
foreseeable future, just as the EU is getting close to 
putting in place provisions to enable the biotech approvals 
process to get started again.  Unlike the Austrian bid to 
justify GM-free zones, Alemanno,s coexistence rules appeal 
to local and regional beliefs that traditional food products 
are a crucial patrimony.  By giving regions the authority to 
decide what areas are to be biotech-free from 2005 and into 
the future, he is also deflecting troublesome decisions from 
his Ministry and pushing it into the regional agricultural 
leaderships, hands.   Moreover, U.S. conventional seed trade 
with Italy will continue to be thwarted by arbitrary AP 
levels.  Assobiotech, the umbrella organization representing 
biotech industries in Italy, has spearheaded a Brussels 
initiative to inform EU officials of aspects of the proposal 
that run contrary to EU law.  If the Italian coexistence law 
is allowed to stand unchallenged by the EU, Italy will have 
positioned itself even further as the most biotech-unfriendly 
Member State in the EU. 
 
9.  (SBU)  Existing procedures for registering a new seed 
variety in Italy are rigorous and should satisfy Italian 
regulatory concerns. The coexistence law ignores existing 
Italian seed registry rules, which already require that any 
new seed variety undergo two years of field testing in 
Italian soil and a review by a board appointed by the 
Ministry of Agriculture. Banning biotech based on 
"contamination" of typical products ignores the fact that the 
Ministry of Agriculture controls these through field testing. 
 
10.  (SBU)   The GOI,s Council of Ministers can adopt or 
reject Alemanno,s coexistence law.  In Italy, decree- laws 
circumvent lengthy legislative procedures and are intended as 
a mechanism to deal with emergencies.  Senator Ronconi, 
Chairman of the GOI Senate Agriculture Committee, has stated 
publicly that issuing this rule as a law decree is 
unwarranted.  A senior Environment Ministry official told 
emboff Nov. 7 that the decree is scientifically unjustified 
and probably unconstitutional, but he predicted that no 
minister would oppose Alemanno in the Council of Ministers. 
His point was that, while Government cohesion faces serious 
challenges on other, "more crucial issues", no minister will 
choose to pick a fight over this decree. 
 
Ambassador's Interventions 
----------------------------------- 
 
11. (SBU)  Given the potential seriousness of this 
decree-law, before departing for Washington Ambassador 
Sembler raised the matter this week in discussions with the 
Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry.  These discussions, 
offer grounds for optimism that the Italian cabinet will not 
act precipitously to enact the Alemanno decree-law.  Details 
to follow septel. 
SKODON 
 
 
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	2003ROME05127 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED