VZCZCXYZ0008
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNC #0098/01 0501259
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191259Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0536
INFO RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC 0052

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000098 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EEB/TPP/ABT, EUR/ERA, AND EUR/SE 
 
DEPT PASS TO USTR 
 
USDA FOR FAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO ECON ETRD EUN CY
SUBJECT: CYPRUS: TRIES AND TRIES AGAIN WITH CONTROVERSIAL NEW LAW ON 
BIOTECH SEPARATE SHELVING 
 
REFS: (A) 09 NICOSIA 661, (B) 07 NICOSIA 622 
 
(U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Cyprus is preparing to reenact a controversial 
law requiring separate shelving for biotech products on supermarket 
shelves.  The law was first enacted in 2007 but it never actually 
entered into force because the President repealed it on procedural 
grounds.  This time around, the GOC is making sure to follow proper 
EU procedure, entailing the Commission's prior review and 
authorization under 98/34 Directive.  This constitutes a significant 
test case for the EU that would extend EU barriers to biotech trade. 
 End Summary. 
 
GOC Traditionally Hostile Towards Biotech 
-------------------- -------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Cyprus has long-standing hostility (beyond mere 
skepticism) towards GMOs.  For example: 
 
-- The GOC consistently votes against applications for new 
bioengineered crops considered by the EU (Ref A). 
 
-- The GOC has declared as "GMO-free" the area under the Natura 2000 
project (corresponding to 11.5 percent of the land area of the 
island).  Local environmentalists and others have persistently 
pressured the government of Cyprus to declare the entire island 
"GMO-free." 
 
-- In 2009, the GOC commissioned a study aimed at establishing that 
co-existence between bioengineered and conventional crops is 
impossible in Cyprus. 
 
-- Last year, the Ministerial Council drafted legislation setting a 
"zero tolerance" policy for biotech seeds.  Once completed, this 
legislation will ban importation of any shipment of conventional 
seeds containing even a trace of biotech seeds.  (In the absence of 
an EU guideline for biotech content in seeds, most member states 
have set their corresponding limits between zero and 0.9%.) 
 
-- In October 2009, the European Commission forced the Cyprus House 
of Representatives to repeal legislation (introduced in 2005) 
banning the importation and sale of biofuel products made from 
biotechnology plants.  Since 2007, the European Commission had been 
pressuring Cyprus to abolish this legislation, ultimately 
threatening it with stiff fines.  The Director of the government's 
Energy Service explained to the House of Representatives that, aside 
from the threat of EU fines, it was technically impossible to 
enforce this law, while the government's legal service conceded that 
it had no scientific arguments to defend maintaining this 
legislation. 
 
Separate Shelving Bill for Biotech Products: An EU First 
-------------------------- ----------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Anti-biotech polemic in Cyprus reached a new high in 2007, 
when the Cypriot House of Representatives passed a law (after 
persistent lobbying from the local Green Party) requiring local 
stores to place all bioengineered products (defined as products with 
a biotechnology content above 0.9 percent) on separate shelves, 
under a sign clearly declaring them as containing genetically 
modified organisms, or "GMOs."  This legislation -- the first of its 
kind in the EU -- never actually entered into force because the 
President, supported by the Supreme Court, repealed it on procedural 
grounds (Ref B). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Post has been informed that the GOC is now trying to 
re-submit this bill, following proper procedure this time.  The 
earlier version of the bill was handled by the Environment Service 
(under the Ministry of Agriculture) and the Medical Services and 
Public Health Services (under the Ministry of Health).  At the 
Commission's recommendation, the GOC has now tasked the Ministry of 
Commerce with drafting the new bill. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On February 16, we had a conversation with Officer Antonis 
Ioannou at the Ministry of Commerce, who had just been appointed in 
charge of re-drafting and re-submitting this bill. Ioannou noted 
that the new bill will be drafted under the 98/34 Directive.  This 
sets up a procedure which imposes an obligation upon the Member 
States to notify the Commission and all member states the draft 
technical regulations concerning products and Information Society 
Services before they are adopted in national law.  Such procedure 
 
aims at providing transparency and control with regard to those 
regulations. 
The Commission must respond to Cyprus within three months.  This 
review process is intended to establish whether a new law is 
compatible with the EU acquis, and with WTO rules.  Specifically, it 
will help determine whether this new law constitutes a Technical 
Barrier to Trade (TBT) or not.  The GOC needs to explain the reasons 
why it needs such a law to begin with, and whether the separate 
shelving provision is justified. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment: This will be the first time the Commission will 
be asked to rule on the substance of Cyprus' intention to pass a law 
providing separate shelving for biotech products.  As such, it 
constitutes an important "pilot" case for the EU in terms of whether 
such strict regulations will be deemed compatible with EU labeling 
and food safety laws, and with WTO obligations.  End Comment. 
 
URBANCIC