Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
GM plant, which has received consent for placing on the market, con-
stitutes a risk to human health or the environment, it may provisionally
restrict or prohibit the use and/or sale of that product on its territory.
The safeguard clause was invoked on nine separate occasions under
Directive 90/220/EEC during the late 1990s and in 2001, three times
by Austria, twice by France, and once each by Germany, Greece,
Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. The scientific evidence provided
by these member-states as justification for their measures concerning
GM maize varieties Bt176, T25, MON810, rapeseed varieties MS1XRF1
and Topas19/2, respectively, was submitted to the Commission's Scien-
tific Committee(s) for opinion. In all of these cases, the Committee(s)
came to the conclusion that there was no evidence that would justify
overturning the original authorization decision.
6
After October 1998,
7
the Commission had ceased authorizing the
placing on the market of further GM crops under Directive 90/220/EC
due to lack of support of the majority of EU member-states.
8
This cre-
ated a
de facto
moratorium and started a revision of the EU's regulatory
regime to better address the challenges posed by GMOs.
RevisionoftheDeliberateReleaseDirective
The revision of Directive 90/220/EEC in 2001 was a first step to over-
come the so-called moratorium. The new Directive 2001/18/EC
9
intro-
duced mandatory labeling and traceability requirements for GMO to
be placed on the market. Approvals are now limited to a period of
10 years and applicants are requested to provide postmarket monitoring
6 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/03/221&
format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en.
7
In October 1998 the Commission authorized two GM carnation varieties with modified
flower color. Table 1 contains only GM plants authorized for food and/or feed use.
8
France, Greece, Italy, Denmark, and Luxembourg, later joined by Belgium and
Austria, usually vote against further proposals for approval of GMOs.
9
Directive 2001/18/EC. Official Journal of the European Communities L106: 1-39.
17.4.2001.
