May 11, 2001
On 2 May, the High Court released its decision on the "points of law" appeal on the ERMA approval for GM cattle field trials. The ERMA approval was granted to the CRI, AgResearch in July last year, and the work by the CRI is now well advanced. The High Court upheld the appeal, mainly because of insufficient evidence in the ERMA decision that its decision-making methodology had been properly followed. ERMA was directed to reconsider its decision in the light of the High Court ruling.
The Authority met yesterday to determine how best to handle the reconsideration.
As a result a Special Committee has been established to carry out the reconsideration. The membership of the Committee is drawn entirely from those people who formed the original decision-making committee. This approach was taken to ensure that the members of the committee were already well informed on the information relating to the application.
The Committee comprises the following three Members of the Authority and one external appointee:
- Dr Oliver Sutherland (Chairperson of the Committee);
- Mrs Helen Hughes;
- Dr Colin Mantell;
- Mrs Leatrice Welsh (external appointee).
The Special Committee met immediately following the Authority meeting. It has decided that the reconsideration will be conducted on the basis of the information already available. There will thus be no call for new or additional submissions, and no public hearing. There are two reasons for taking this approach.
The first is that the Court has clearly indicated that the reconsideration ought to be undertaken expeditiously. But perhaps more importantly it is clear that the faults found in the decision are largely procedural. There was no indication of the need for additional information. The decision-making committee acted properly in deciding on the basis of the information available. There is thus no justifiable basis for reopening the whole process.
The Special Committee will now work through the reconsideration as quickly as possible. At the High Court hearing on 18 May the Authority will be in a position to indicate when the reconsideration will be complete.
For further information:
| Dr Bas Walker, Chief Executive, ERMA New Zealand. Ph +64 4 473 8426. |
Karen Cronin, Communications Manager, ERMA New Zealand. Ph +64 4 918 4826. |
For more information on the cattle applicaton go to our focus page.