hahn & hahn attorneys at law ATTORNEYS - NOTARIES - CONVEYANCERS Draft GM Labelling Amendments Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry Draft GM Labelling Amendments By Janusz F Luterek, Esq. Pr.Eng, Attorney, Patent Attorney Partner at Hahn & Hahn Attorneys Copyright J F Luterek, 2012 (May not be copied or used without express written permission)

hahn & hahn attorneys at lawIntroduction Labelling of foodstuffs including GM ingredients is an emotive issue Science has shown GM crops to be safe Most maize, soy, canola, and cotton are GM and have been eaten for years without labelling Labelling requires testing of all ingredients at huge cost which will lead to food price increases

hahn & hahn attorneys at lawIntroduction Presentation is on behalf of the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, AfricaBio, and National Chamber of Milling Focus on current draft amendment and our proposals for the amendments Amendments are required to clarify the current Regulations which cannot be interpretted.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Section 24(6) of Consumer Protection Act 68, 2008 Any person who produces, supplies, imports or packages any prescribed goods must display on, or in association with the packaging of those goods, a notice in the prescribed manner and form that discloses the presence of any genetically modified ingredients or components of those goods in accordance with applicable regulations.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Proposed New Definition “ingredient” means any substance, including any food additive and any constituent of a compound ingredient, which is used in the manufacture or preparation of a foodstuff and wherein when used in the manufacture of the foodstuff, novel DNA is identifiable in the foodstuff.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law DRAFT Amended Reg 7 under Section 24(6) UNCHANGED 7(1) In this regulation, "genetically modified organism" means a genetically modified organism as defined in section 1 of the Genetically Modified Organisms Act, 1997 (Act No. 15 of 1991), and "genetically modified" has a corresponding meaning.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(2) (2) This regulation applies to all goods that contain genetically modified ingredients or components [ approved for commercialisation by the Executive Council for Genetically Modified Organisms established by section 3 of the Genetically Modified Organisms Act, ]

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(2) (2) This regulation applies to genetically modified commodities approved for commercialisation by the Executive Council for Genetically Modified Organisms established by section 3 of the Genetically Modified Organisms Act, 1997, and to goods which contain genetically modified commodities as ingredients in an unprocessed form.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(3) (3) For purposes of section 24(6) of the Act, and subject to sub-regulation (4) and (6), this regulation applies to all goods that contain genetically modified ingredients or components [referred to in sub-regulation (2)] which contain at least 5 percent of genetically modified ingredients or components [organisms], irrespective of whether such making or manufacturing occurred in the Republic or elsewhere, and to marketing material in respect of such goods.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(3) (3) For purposes of section 24(6) of the Act, and subject to sub-regulation (2), (4) and (6), this regulation applies to all goods that contain at least 5% genetically modified ingredients, irrespective of whether the making or manufacturing thereof occurred in the Republic or elsewhere, and to marketing material in respect of such goods.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(4) (4) Any good [or ingredient or component] to which sub-regulation (3) applies may not be produced, supplied, imported, or packaged unless a notice meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act is [applied to such good or marketing material, as the case may be], displayed on, or in association with the packaging of those goods in a conspicuous and easily legible manner and size stating, without change, that the good [or ingredient or component] "contains genetically modified ingredients or components [Organisms]".

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(4) (4) Any good to which sub-regulation (3) applies may not be produced, supplied, imported, or packaged unless a notice meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act is displayed on, or in association with the packaging of those goods in a conspicuous and easily legible manner and size stating, without change, that the good "contains genetically modified ingredients".

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Reg 7(5) UNCHANGED (5) If goods listed or contemplated in sub-regulation (2) are intentionally and directly produced using genetic modification processes, the goods or marketing material, as the case may be, must be labelled, meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act, without change, as "Produced using genetic modification".

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(6) (6) A notice meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act must not state that a good [or ingredient or component] does not contain genetically modified ingredients or components [organisms] unless such good [or ingredient or component] contains less than one percent genetically modified [organisms] ingredients or components.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(6) (6) It must not be stated that a good does not contain genetically modified ingredients unless such good contains less than one percent genetically modified ingredients, in which case a notice shall be used meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(7) (7) Notwithstanding the provisions of subregulation 7(6), a notice meeting the requirements of section 22 may state that the level of genetically modified [organisms] ingredients or components contained in the good [or ingredient or component] to which sub-regulation (2) applies is less than 5 percent.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(7) (7) Notwithstanding the provisions of subregulation 7(6), a notice meeting the requirements of section 22 may state that the level of genetically modified ingredients contained in the good to which sub-regulation (2) applies is less than 5 percent.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(8) (8) If it is scientifically impractical or not feasible to test goods contemplated in sub-regulation (2) for the presence of genetically modified [organisms or] ingredients or components, a notice meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act must be [applied to such goods or marketing material, as the case may be] displayed on, or in association with the packaging of those goods, in a conspicuous and easily legible manner and size, stating "May contain genetically modified ingredients or components".

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(8) (8) If it is scientifically impractical or economically not feasible to test goods contemplated in sub-regulation (2) for the presence of genetically modified ingredients, a notice meeting the requirements of section 22 of the Act must be displayed on, or in association with the packaging of those goods, in a conspicuous and easily legible manner and size, stating "May contain genetically modified ingredients ".

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Amended Reg 7(9) (9) This regulation does not amend or repeal or detract from any other regulation applying to product labelling and trade descriptions of goods derived from genetically modified organisms made under or in terms of any other legislation, nor do any such regulations detract from or prejudice this regulation.

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Reg 7(10) UNCHANGED(10) This regulation will come into effect six months after the commencement of the Act. The Act came into effect on 24 April 2009!

hahn & hahn attorneys at law Our Proposed Reg 7(10) (10) This regulation will come into effect 24 months after the promulgation of the amendment thereto. Products have a shelf life and need to be changed over to new labelling over time. Department of Health gave 2 years for recent changeover

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