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The Genetically Modified Organisms (Control of Release) Bill will be published in the Gazette tomorrow (May 22).
"The main objective of the bill is to protect biological diversity through the control of the release into the environment, and the import and export, of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)," a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said today (May 21).
Enactment of the Bill would enable the Government to implement the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in Hong Kong for better protection of biological diversity.
The protocol was adopted under the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2000 to provide for the safe transfer, handling and use of GMOs that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
The protocol specifically focuses on transboundary movements of GMOs and seeks to protect individual parties from potentially adverse impact of imported GMOs on their biological diversity through the regulation of import and export of GMOs intended for release into the environment.
"Under the bill, prior approval must be sought from the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation before a GMO may be released into the environment or imported into Hong Kong for release into the environment."
"Such application should be accompanied by a risk assessment report on the possible adverse effects of the GMO on the environment. Only those GMOs which will not cause unacceptable or unmanageable impact on the local biological diversity will be approved for release into the environment in Hong Kong," the spokesman said.
In accordance with the protocol, the approval procedure does not apply to GMOs that are imported for food/feed or for processing. An import shipment of such GMOs nonetheless has to be accompanied by proper documentation, which clearly indicates that it contains or may contain GMOs for food/feed or for processing and is not intended for release into the environment.
"Such documentation requirements are common to most of our trading partners. We anticipate that, in most cases, goods arriving in Hong Kong will be accompanied by the necessary documentation already, and we expect there will not be heavy compliance burden on the part of the local traders or importers," the spokesman said.
GMOs are living organisms that possess new combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology, for example, transgenic fluorescent aquarium fish, herbicide-tolerant canola, virus-resistant papaya and delayed ripening tomato.
Living organisms with genetic material altered through traditional breeding and selection techniques (e.g. Hybrid Rice and Golden Sweet Corn), non-living products (cotton fibres) and processed food (e.g. wheat flour, canned bean) are not GMOs.
Subject to approval of the Legislative Council, the Government aims to enact the new Bill in 2010. Following the enactment, there will be a six-month transitional period to allow stakeholders and the public to adapt to the new legislation.
Ends/Thursday, May 21, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:59
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