Europe
June 27, 2005
The Environment Council has voted
against a package of European 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.
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.
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.
Click
HERE for more information on the regulation of GMOs in the
EU.
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