December 2011: A program note published by the Program for Biosafety Systems of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) analyzes different options for countries to address the adventitious presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in cases of asynchronous approvals.
A situation of asynchronous approval exists when a GMO has been approved for production in an exporting country but not in the importing country, potentially leading to trade disruptions due to low-level presence of GMOs in non-GMO imports if the importing country follows a zero tolerance policy.
To address this issue, members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) adopted an Annex on a simplified risk assessment procedure for GMO products affected by asynchronous approval.
The paper analyzes three approaches to define low level presence in accordance with the Annex: import approval under a zero tolerance level; import approval under a positive tolerance level; and no import regulation.
The note concludes that: import regulations should include an extended rapid approval system for GMOs approved and consumed in three or fewer countries; a non-zero tolerance level should be adopted for GMOs selected by exporters, which should be greater than the detection level and comparable with other potential tolerance levels; workable databases and rapid information flow should be established; and countries should use the same Codex Guidelines and consider the development of an international clearance system to avoid undue burden for new GMOs. IFPRI is a center of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [
IFPRI Program Note]