The European Union’s new regulation requiring traceability and labeling (T&L) of food products containing biotech ingredients is discriminatory, not based on science, and has caused U.S. soy and food products exports to the EU to drop dramatically. ASA and other agriculture-based trade associations have asked the Administration to file a WTO case against the EU T&L regulation. At our request, the Senate Finance Committee is preparing to ask the International Trade Commission to investigate the economic impacts of this regulation.

ASA and other agriculture groups ask Congress to urge the Administration to file a WTO case against the EU’s trade-distorting Traceability and Labeling regulation.

In 1999, the EU initiated a requirement that food products containing ingredients with 1.0% or more biotech content must be labeled. As a result, food manufacturers who sell in the EU reduced U.S.-origin soybean oil used in their products, and U.S. soybean sales have declined by 1.0 million tons (27%).

In 2003, the EU approved a new regulation under which food products containing ingredients with 0.9% or more biotech content must be labeled. The regulation also requires documentation that traces the origin of ingredients in food products – even if there is no discernable biotech content – to determine whether they are processed from biotech commodities. ASA estimates that this T&L regulation will result in further reformulation away from U.S.-origin soybean oil, and loss of additional soybean exports.

In November 2003, ASA and 21 other agriculture-based organizations sent a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative requesting that the Administration file a dispute settlement proceeding against the EU. The letter raised concerns that the labeling and traceability requirements are causing displacement of U.S. markets in the EU for bulk commodities and food products. It also pointed out that, unless confronted, the EU regulation would become a precedent for regulating biotech imports by other countries.

ASA and the other groups involved in the case have retained legal counsel and are actively working on development of a legal case against the EU regulation. Senate Finance Committee Grassley is preparing to request an economic impact study of the T&L regulation by the ITC.