Joint Letter to USTR on Need to Address Mexico's Delays of Ag Biotech Approvals
March 31, 2020
The undersigned organizations greatly appreciate your support for agricultural biotechnology in trade negotiations and other bilateral and multilateral engagements. Biotechnology is delivering valuable tools that help farmers increase productivity, better protect the environment, and support consumer health. To realize the benefits of biotechnology, we need global regulatory systems that are transparent, predictable, efficient and based on science and risk so farmers can use the latest technologies and fully access the global market. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is critical to the advancement of polices that support both innovation and trade.
We are writing to bring to your attention the existing delays in biotechnology approvals in Mexico. Recent changes in the Government of Mexico disrupted the operations of several agencies, including the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS), the agency affiliated with the Secretaria de Salud (Health Secretariat) and responsible for import approvals of genetically modified organisms. COFEPRIS has a statutory timeline of six months to issue an approval, however, the agency has not approved a GMO for import since May 2018. Despite numerous engagements from various levels of the U.S. Government, we still have not seen any indication that approvals will resume.
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The undersigned organizations greatly appreciate your support for agricultural biotechnology in trade negotiations and other bilateral and multilateral engagements. Biotechnology is delivering valuable tools that help farmers increase productivity, better protect the environment, and support consumer health. To realize the benefits of biotechnology, we need global regulatory systems that are transparent, predictable, efficient and based on science and risk so farmers can use the latest technologies and fully access the global market. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is critical to the advancement of polices that support both innovation and trade.
We are writing to bring to your attention the existing delays in biotechnology approvals in Mexico. Recent changes in the Government of Mexico disrupted the operations of several agencies, including the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS), the agency affiliated with the Secretaria de Salud (Health Secretariat) and responsible for import approvals of genetically modified organisms. COFEPRIS has a statutory timeline of six months to issue an approval, however, the agency has not approved a GMO for import since May 2018. Despite numerous engagements from various levels of the U.S. Government, we still have not seen any indication that approvals will resume.