Brussels, Jun 2005

The Environment Council has voted against a package of Commission proposals requiring the lifting of bans or restrictions on eight authorised genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg.

This is the first time that the Council has delivered a qualified majority against Commission proposals on GMOs, and the Commission has said that it will have to 'carefully consider' the legal and scientific bases that underpin any further proposals.

Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, said: 'The Commission has a legal obligation to make sure that the existing regulatory framework governing the release of GMOs is correctly applied by Member States. That is why we proposed to lift the current bans or restrictions on certain GMOs in Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg.

'The fact that the Council rejected all eight proposals raises a host of questions. What is certain is that today's vote sends a political signal that Member States may want to revisit some aspects of the existing system,' he suggested.

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The proposals sought to lift so-called national safeguard measures on varieties of GM maize, oil seed rape and swede rape, including restrictions on cultivation, import and use in food and feed. The Commission was obliged to act when the relevant scientific committees deemed that the information submitted by these countries as justification for the bans did not change the original risk assessments carried out as part of the authorisation procedure.

The Commission now has three options: to re-submit the existing proposals back to the Council, to amend the proposals before resubmission, or to present a new legislative proposal on the basis of the Treaty. Mr Dimas confirmed that the Commission would examine all legal and scientific issues related to the decisions before deciding on the best way forward.

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At the same meeting on 24 June, the Environment Council failed to reach a decision either for or against the authorisation of MON863 GM maize for import, processing and feed use. The case will now go back to the European Commission for a final ruling.

For more information on the regulation of GMOs in the EU, please:
click here

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