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 A1226 which seeks to permit the sale and use of food derived from a new food produced using gene technology (GM food) - corn line MON95379. Corn line MON95379 has been genetically modified for protection from lepidopteran insect pests. The Authority considered the Application in accordance with Division 1 of Part 3 and has approved a draft variation.
Following consideration by the Food Ministers’ Meeting (formerly the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation)[1], 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 the approved draft variation is to permit the sale and use of food derived from a new GM food - corn line MON95379, in accordance with the Code. Corn line MON95379 has been genetically modified for protection from lepidopteran insect pests.
3. Documents incorporated by reference
The approved draft variation does 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 A1226 included one round of public consultation following an assessment and the preparation of a draft variation and associated report.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) granted FSANZ a standing exemption from the requirement to develop a Regulatory Impact Statement for permitting new GM foods (OBPR correspondence dated 24 November 2010, reference 12065). This standing exemption was provided as varying Schedule 26 is a consequential change of maintaining a permitted schedule of GM foods. Additionally, permitting a new GM food is deregulatory as using the food will be voluntary if the Application concerned is approved. This standing exemption relates to the introduction of a food to the food supply that has been determined to be safe.
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] amends Schedule 26 by inserting new paragraph (ze) into item 2 of the table to subsection S26—3(4) in Schedule 26 in alphabetical order.
The new paragraph refers to insect-protected corn line MON95379.
The effect of the approved draft variation is to permit the sale and use of food derived from that corn line in accordance with the Code.
[1] The Forum name change took effect on 21 February 2021 following a decision by Ministers.