I completely accept that comment. I recognise that this is sometimes very difficult because we are dealing with the same issues for different products in different SIs. Certainly, the instruments that will be under discussion tomorrow are much more wholesome and complete.
I turn to some of the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, who also made the point, which I will take on the chin, about the efficacy of debating all these separately. As I have said before, that issue is always to be balanced with the danger of having too many issues in one place; we all know of the famous BEIS SI that was over 500 pages long. I recognise that there is a balance to be struck, and both noble Baronesses have made some very good points.
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The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, and the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, noted the guidance on the new GI scheme. We published an updated technical notice on 5 February 2019, which offers GI stakeholders guidance for continued planning in the event of no deal. Further guidance will be available on the day of exit, but we are not going to publish further guidance ahead of that to avoid the confusion of there being too much guidance. The February guidance is still current, and we will publish further guidance on exit. However, we are alerting stakeholders that this guidance is on the way and that they should prepare to notice it when it arrives.
Turning to the US whiskey and Mexican spirits agreement, which is very important, noble Lords will appreciate that that is rolling over the deal between the US and Mexico and the EU. We were able to roll over
the US element, so those spirits are protected in this country. It has not been possible to roll over the Mexican element, but we are engaging with the Mexican Government and we expect it to be rolled over very soon, so I will happily buy the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, a tequila in due course—just one!
More generally, it is worth recapping the situation about GIs when we leave the EU, because they are important. UK products which are recognised as EU GIs are on the register in the EU and should continue to have that protection automatically after exit. The only way in which they would not have that protection is if the EU changes its rules. It is worth remembering that many products from third countries are on the EU list of GI products, so UK products in the EU will have that protection. The Government have not yet announced a decision on how non-UK GIs being sold into the UK will be treated if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal in place. The UK is not obliged to protect EU GIs after exit, but EU GI holders will be able to apply for recognition in the market after exit.
That leads into the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, about whether we are ready for this. Yes, we are. We have thought about and put into place our own UK GI process. We are very clear about what the procedures will be. The double process in the EU will become a single process here in terms of the submission of the application and looking for people to comment on the application. We are adding a second separate level of protection in that applicants will be able to go to the First-tier Tribunal if they disagree with the Secretary of State’s decision. So there will still be a two-stage process, but it will be slightly different from the one in the EU. We believe we have the expertise in Defra to do it, so we will welcome applications to the new system.
I thought I was going to be a little side-swiped by the question on “Rum-Verschnitt” and “Slivovice”, but I think I have an answer. I do not know whether it will make any sense to the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, but I hope it will. These amendments apply only in the UK and the text does not make sense in a UK context, so we are revoking the words—these are operability amendments getting rid of unnecessary text. If I can find out any more or make that make any more sense, I will drop the noble Baroness a note.
I was asked about Annexe III and why the full list of GIs is not in the Explanatory Memorandum. The only US spirits we included were Tennessee whiskey and bourbon. This enacts the roll-over agreement, which is why the full list is different from what was expected.
The noble Lord, Lord Dubs, mentioned GM crops. This is an important issue. We will continue to take a science-based approach on approving GM products and will agree to the planting of GM crops only if it is clear that people and the environment will not be harmed. As I mentioned, no GM crops are grown in the UK and we do not foresee any approvals coming down the track at this stage. Again, it is also worth re-emphasising in situations like this how closely we work with the devolved Administrations on all devolved matters to ensure that there is as little divergence as possible. Too much divergence does not appear to be
in people’s interests. For the time being, we are setting up frameworks to make sure that, where possible, everybody has the same arrangements.