Niveau juridique : Union européenne
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Texte de la question,15-10-2018
The Court of Justice’s judgment (Grand Chamber) of 25 July 2018 in Case C-528/16, disputed between the Confédération paysanne and others and the French prime minister and minister for agriculture, the food processing industry and forestry, concluded that under EC law, all mutagenesis-related techniques are to be considered tantamount to using GMOs, and that only techniques with a long history of safe use should be exempt.
Consequently, all mutagenesis-related techniques developed since Directive 2001/18/EC entered into force cannot be considered exempt. However, several cases show that the experimental cultivation of crops obtained through some of these techniques (notably oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis and CRISPR/Cas9) has been permitted outside of the GMO framework by certain Member States, namely Sweden, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
How will the Commission ensure that Member States abide by the rules laid down in Directive 2001/18/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 concerning any deliberate release (such as field trials, commercial cultivation, commercialisation and imports) of crops and products obtained through any of the non-exempt mutagenesis-related techniques?
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Texte de la réponse,10-12-2018.
Member States are responsible for the enforcement of the EU Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) legislation(1).
During the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed on 11 September 2018(2) and the Regulatory Committee on Directive 2001/18 on 18 October 2018(3), the Commission has recalled to national competent authorities of their responsibility to enforce GMO legislation in accordance with the Court of Justice of the European Union’s judgment, including control of products to be placed on the EU market and compliance with GMO legislation of ongoing and future field trials.
These discussions will be pursued as necessary to support the Member States in the implementation of the EU legislation.
(1) OJ L106, 17.4.2001. p.1 and OJ L268, 18.10.2003, p. 1.
(2) ec.europa.eu/food/plant/standing_committees/sc_modif_genet_en
(3) ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/plant/docs/reg-com_2001-18-ec_20181018_agenda.pdf