Sep 26, 2003

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Bundesrat opposes changes to responsibilities

Mediators called in

(26 Sep.) The German Bundesrat today called in the mediation committee for the government’s planned legislation on transferring the responsibilities in genetic engineering law.

The point at issue continues to be the government’s plan to transfer responsibility for the authorisation of releases and the placing on the market of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).

The Bundesrat had already rejected this plan during the first reading of the bill. The government, however, has stuck with its position. Now the joint mediation committee of the Bundesrat and Bundestag will have to find a compromise.

The Bundesrat’s negotiation objective is clear: to reverse the planned transfer of responsibilities to Germany’s highest nature conservation authority. As justification, the Bundesrat claims that genetic engineering is a mainstream environment conservation task, in which all the impacts of GMOs on the environment as a whole and on human health need to be taken into account. According to the Bundesrat, this goes far beyond the remit of the BfN. Another transfer of responsibilities planned in the legislation – from the Robert Koch Institute to the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) is not a matter for the mediation proceedings.

Few chances of success

Despite the mediation process that has now been requested, the government will probably be able to push its plans through. It has formulated its draft legislation as an “Einspruchsgesetz” (a statute not requiring assent) because it believes that the legislation does not touch on the concerns of the federal states to any great extent. This means that the coalition majority in the Bundestag can reject the mediation compromise. The Bundesrat would then only have the option to object to the bill, which would have to be put before it again. The Bundestag can reject this objection if it has an absolute majority, allowing it to bring in the law in the form it has chosen