Explanatory Statement
1. Authority
Section 13 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (the FSANZ Act) provides that the functions of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (the Authority) include the development of standards and variations of standards for inclusion in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code).
Division 1 of Part 3 of the FSANZ Act specifies that the Authority may accept applications for the development or variation of food regulatory measures, including standards. This Division also stipulates the procedure for considering an application for the development or variation of food regulatory measures.
The Authority accepted Application A1154 which seeks approval for food derived from cotton line MON88702, genetically modified to provide protection from piercing and sucking insects. The Authority considered the Application in accordance with Division 1 of Part 3 and has approved a draft variation of a standard.
Following consideration by the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, section 92 of the FSANZ Act stipulates that the Authority must publish a notice about the standard or draft variation of a standard.
Section 94 of the FSANZ Act specifies that a standard, or a variation of a standard, in relation to which a notice is published under section 92 is a legislative instrument, but is not subject to parliamentary disallowance or sunsetting under the Legislation Act 2003.
2. Purpose
The purpose of this instrument is to amend the table to subsection S26—3(4) of Schedule 26 of the Code (permitted food produced using gene technology and conditions) to permit the use or sale of food derived from the insect-protected cotton line MON88702.
3. Documents incorporated by reference
The variations to food regulatory measures do not incorporate any documents by reference.
4. Consultation
In accordance with the procedure in Division 1 of Part 3 of the FSANZ Act, the Authority’s consideration of Application A1154 included one round of public consultation following an assessment and the preparation of a draft variation and associated report. Submissions were called for on 18 December 2017 for an eight-week consultation period.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR), in a letter to FSANZ dated 24 November 2010, granted a standing exemption from the need for the OBPR to assess if a Regulatory Impact Statement is required for the approval of genetically modified foods (ref 12065).
5. Statement of compatibility with human rights
This instrument is exempt from the requirements for a statement of compatibility with human rights as it is a non-disallowable instrument under section 94 of the FSANZ Act.
6. Variation
Item [1] inserts new paragraph (p) into item 3 in the table to subsection S26—3(4) in Schedule 26. The new paragraph refers to ‘insect-protected cotton line MON88702’. The effect of the variation is to permit the use or sale of food derived from that cotton line in accordance with Standard 1.5.2.