The BTFP work with exporters of natural ingredients has experienced that NFR, as currently applied, is in direct conflict with the aim of promoting sustainable trade of biodiversity-based food products and is preventing small-scale farmers and communities in developing countries from using their rich botanical heritage to improve their economic situation.
A wide range of traditional foods potentially available from developing countries is being denied access to the EU by over-strict interpretation of the NFR, which fails to differentiate fails between genuinely new foods that have not been consumed anywhere before, and foods that are merely new to Europe and are only “novel” due to an arbitrary cut-off date in legislation that was not intended directly for them. They must therefore undergo a stringent, formal EU safety assessment and pre-market authorisation, for which scientific and administrative demands are considerable, potentially lengthy and expensive, and place a heavy and disproportionate burden on potential exporters.
The Commission recognised this, and proposed possible solutions in its own Discussion Paper in 2002. Ongoing efforts of the UNCTAD/BTFP build on the merits of the Commission’s suggestions and explore further options for change from the perspective of developing countries, based on the premise that traditional foods with a long history of human consumption should be considered separately from truly “innovative” products such as novel additives and food chemicals.
The objective of the workshop is to present technical suggestions for the revision of the directive (as proposed in UNCTAD-CBI's discussion paper) and to hear perspectives from developing countries and European Health and Consumer Protection Institutions. Exporters from developing countries, as well as European importers will also be present.
The BTFP’s contributions are helping developing countries to export their natural biodiversity, as well as facilitating resource sustainability and the achievement of development objectives in the exporting countries.
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