My Lords, I associate myself with the comprehensive remarks of my colleague on the Labour Front Bench and support the intention behind the amendment. It is absolutely clear that businesses in the farming and agribusiness community are extremely concerned about the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit on their businesses. Bringing these SIs forward under the affirmative procedure seems to fly in the face of the proposals agreed in the other place and supported broadly here—the Benn proposals—which would not enable Brexit to take place on 31 October.
I do not want to reiterate the detailed points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch. However, I want to add a couple of extra detailed points about the Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
I am grateful to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, which pointed out that we have these regulations because of defective drafting. Clearly, with the number of SIs that Defra has had, those things are bound to happen. I was grateful to hear the Minister’s apology—in a sense—for having to bring this forward, but I query whether this SI is just about defective drafting. If we look at one of the paragraphs that is changing, it removes an existing requirement in EU legislation for companies that deliberately release GMOs into the environment.
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At the moment, EU law says quite clearly:
“The competent authority shall encourage notifiers to provide the report in an electronic form”.
This SI deletes that. That is not just technical; it changes the operability of the present the European Union regulation. Why are the Government seeking to remove the requirement so that companies deliberately discharging GMOs into the environment no longer have to produce that information in an electronic form? Given that this area is seen as controversial by a number of members of the general public and, indeed, by a number of stakeholder environmental groups, it seems to me that such information should be in an electronic form so that, from a freedom of information and transparency point of view, people can be aware of where these GMOs are being released. That would be particularly important if you are an organic farmer concerned about any releases in your locale. Why have the Government chosen to remove this requirement on businesses? To me, this is not an issue of defective drafting; it is a decision taken by the department to lighten the burden on companies that release GMOs.
The reason I might sound a little suspicious is that paragraph 10.02 Explanatory Memorandum states not that Defra had undertaken a consultation but that it,
“has engaged with the Devolved Administrations and … with the main industry representative organisations”.
Again, this is a controversial area. I accept that, in the scheme of things, a major consultation was perhaps outwith scope, but if the department has met the main industry representative organisations, I must ask whether they are lobbying for this change to lighten their burden in relation to information they need to provide to broader society about where these GMOs are being released. So who were these “main industry representative organisations” that Defra met, and was it as a result of their lobbying that this change was made to the SI?
I shall add a small point following that made by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, about the IPAFFS system. The Minister used the phrase that we are now at the “beta stage of development”. That means nothing to me. Can he say few more words about exactly what stage we are at with the IPAFFS system? I was pleased to hear him say that stakeholders like the new system, which replaces the perfectly serviceable system that we have had from the European Union for many years. Can he say how many stakeholders are using it presently so that we can get a sense of how many are liking it?
Finally, does the Minister have a cost for the IPAFFS system, which is replacing the TRACES system, the European Union’s tool for managing the safety of trade, which has served this country well for so long?