Gene Campaign and Gene Watch, UK  will undertake a joint project on  " Trade in GMOs: the implications of labelling, traceability and the WTO dispute for developing countries". The study is supported by the European Commission. The goals of the project are the following:                                                                          

·       To raise awareness of, and discussion about, the implications of national and regional regulations and standards for genetically modified (GM) crops and foods for trade with developing countries within civil society organisations in Asia and Europe.

·        To consider the implications for developing countries in their own standard setting for GMOs in the light of the WTO GMO dispute brought by the USA, Argentina and Canada against Europe.

·         To explore and propose mechanisms for wider societal involvement in trade debates.

The project will involve the preparation of accessible information and resources about the subjects, followed by two-day discussion workshops for civil society organisations to be held in Delhi and London.

The project will explore the relationship between trade policy and other policy areas with impacts on sustainable development. How the GMO labeling and traceability requirements of Europe affect the choices of farmers in other countries is illustrative of how policy and standards set in one country may restrict or facilitate trade with another. The extent to which WTO requirements under the SPS Agreement affect a nation’s ability to implement the kinds of regulations they believe are consistent with their own sustainable development goals, have been part of the WTO GMO dispute. The implications of the WTO GMO dispute have been misrepresented and civil society’s capacity to engage in sophisticated debates about the role of national standard setting has been limited.

This project will open up these issues and make them accessible and relevant to civil society organisations (CSOs) in the developed and developing world. It will do this by holding interactive workshops in India and the UK with a wide range of participants. It will also consider ways in which the capacity of CSOs could be further developed to participate in such debates and propose mechanisms for taking this forward. This will come from final session discussions of possible mechanisms identified during the first stage of the project. Although the focus is on GMOs, the issues are also relevant to a wider set of issues. 

A series of six background papers from different CSO perspectives will commissioned - three from developed countries and three from developing countries. They will address the following issues:

·        Labelling and traceability standards for GMOs - how they may affect agricultural choices - including coexistence and its practicability.

·         The implications of the WTO GMO dispute - what it means for non-parties.

·         Bringing CSOs into trade debates - what is needed?