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Lucia A Keegan  10/11/2006 09:53:09 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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UNCLAS    SENSITIVE     PARIS 06641

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: AGR
    INFO:   ECON TRDO UNESCO SCI POL ECNO DCM AMB

DISSEMINATION: AGRX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AGR: EBERRY
DRAFTED: AGR: MCHENARD
CLEARED: ECON: JHENNESSEY-NILAND SCI:RDRY

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RR RUEHC RUEHRC RUCNMEM RUEHMRE RUEHSR RUEHGV
RHEHAAA
DE RUEHFR #6641 2781620
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051620Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2000
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1355
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0195
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2503
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC

UNCLAS PARIS 006641 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AGMINCOUNSELOR 
STATE FOR OES; EUR/ERA AND EB (SPIRNAK); 
STATE PASS USTR FOR MURPHY; 
USDA/OS/JOHANNS/TERPSTRA; 
USDA/FAS FOR OA/YOST/SIMMONS/JONES; 
ITP/SHEIKH/MACKE/TOM POMEROY/MIKE WOOLSEY/GREG YOUNG; BOB 
RIEMENSCHNEIDER 
FAA/SEBRANEK/DEVER; 
EU POSTS PASS TO AGRICULTURE AND ECON 
GENEVA FOR USTR, ALSO AGRICULTURE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD EU FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH PRESS REACTION TO THE WTO BIOTECH RULING 
 
REF: (A) Paris 6159; (B) Paris 5262; (C) Paris 2439 
 
1.(SBU)  Summary:  French media reaction to the WTO panel ruling on 
the biotech case has been muted but objective.  The French 
Government will wait for the EU's decision whether to appeal the 
decision before taking any further action on its biotech ban.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The French media has reacted objectively to the release of 
the WTO's final ruling on the case filed by the U.S., Canada and 
Argentina against the EU's de facto moratorium on approving 
agricultural biotech products and other EU Member States' (MS) bans 
on biotech products approved by the EC. 
 
 
¶3. (U) All press articles, whether in the popular or agricultural 
press, underlined that the WTO did not sanction the EU for its 
moratorium as it found this has already been lifted, but focused on 
the MS bans, as being inconsistent with SPS rules.  The French press 
generally viewed the WTO ruling as balanced. Several French papers 
also commented that the WTO did not reach a conclusion on the safety 
of biotech products. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) The French press did not comment on the fact that France's 
ban on two varieties of GM rapeseed was among those cited by the WTO 
or that France will have to come into conformity with the WTO 
ruling.  France's ban on two varieties of biotech rapeseed, 
formalized in decrees published in the French Official Journal 
(equivalent to the U.S. Federal Register), was set for renewal this 
month.  However, French MinAg sources report that the French 
government will not take any action before the EU decides whether to 
file an appeal to the WTO panel decision.  Of interest, the 
varieties of biotech rapeseed banned by the French government are 
unlikely to appeal to French farmers as the products are outdated, 
and GM canola would not provide the clear agronomic and economic 
advantages that GM corn does. 
 
Stapleton