Friday 8 May 2015

at NRW Representation

9:00 - 11:00 Joint workshops

• Trade agreements and GMO-free Europe
• GMO transparency through labelling : mandatory GMO labelling vs voluntary GMO-free labelling
• New GMO techniques, risk assessment and legal definitions
• Opt-out: national implementation, national bans, role of the regions 
• The end of the ‘zero tolerance’ policy in the EU? The impact of low level presence of unauthorised GMOs for the food industry and public authorities
• Towards a European protein Strategy – integrating regional, national and EU approaches

10:00 - 11:00 Press conference with organisers 

11:30 - 12:20 High Level Plenary Session

• Welcome by moderator Tanja Busse
• Matthias Krön, Donau Soja
• Yoke Ling, Third World Network
• Maura Malaspina, Former President of the EU-network of GMO-free regions   
• Johannes Remmel, Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of the state North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
• Presentation of the Berlin Declaration on GMOs and a European Protein Strategy: Rudolf Anschober, Regional Minister of Upper-Austria for Environment

12:20 - 14:10 Round table with speakers & conclusions

• H.-Christoph von Heydebrand, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany
• Jürgen Mäder, CEO of EDEKA Südwest Fleisch GmbH, Germany
• Thomas Brégeon, European Commission, Directorate Health and Food Safety, Biotechnology unit Policy Officer
• Discussion & conclusions 

14:10 - 15:00 Buffet lunch and reception