Brussels, 18/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Against the backdrop of the row over the European Commission's intention to authorise cultivation of genetically modified maize TC by Pioneer-Dupont despite the opposition of 19 member states, the cultivation of the genetically modified maize MON 810 by BASF, which is already legally grown in the EU, has returned to centre stage in France and will certainly make it the European level at the Environment Council of 3 March, where the Commission's proposal of July 2010 to revise the legislation (Directive 2001/18/EC) to allow the member states the option of “à la carte cultivation” subject to strict conditions will be debated (see EUROPE 11020). In the stand-off between Paris and the European Commission over being able to invoke a safeguard clause, which is legally incontestable, France is refusing to back down. This is demonstrated by the decision of the French government to launch a public consultation on Tuesday 17 February on a draft decree to suspend the cultivation of this GMO in metropolitan France. But this is both a legal headache and a race against time for the French authorities if they are to push through their stated intention of banning this GMO before 15 March, the date on which sowing can begin, without the risk of this latest safeguard measure being overturned by the Council of State, as was the case on the two previous occasions, on the grounds of failing to comply with European law.
France seeking a legal basis for its safeguard clause. The new draft decree, which has been put out to public consultation to run from 17 February to 9 March, “aims to ban the sale and use of varieties of seeds from the MON 810 genetically modified line of maize, to tackle the environmental risks related to the cultivation of these varieties. It will enter into force before the next sowing period”, states a joint press release by the French Ministers for Ecology and Agriculture, which was published on the evening of Monday 17 February (our translation). Philippe Martin, the minister for ecology, sustainable development and energy, and Stéphane Le Foll, the minister for agriculture, food and forests, reiterated the “determination of the government to take the necessary measures to ban the cultivation of GM seeds in order to prevent the environmental and economic risks to other crops and agriculture”.
An application for the renewal of the authorisation for MON 810 maize is currently being made under European Regulation 1829/2003 on genetically modified foodstuffs and animal feed. Eight member states (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and Poland) have adopted safeguard measures and banned the cultivation of MON 810 on their territory. All of these measures have been deemed scientifically unfounded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
“France is looking for a legal basis for its safeguard clause”, a senior European civil servant confirmed. The initiative it has undertaken with Germany to work together on a joint proposal for an alternative to the “à la carte cultivation” proposal in order to spark an in-depth review of Directive 2001/18 and allow the member states to decide for themselves on the basis of objective and positive criteria, such as the cost/socio-economic benefit ratio of growing GMOs, is part of this requirement. The French safeguard clause (ministerial decree of 16 March 2012 suspending the cultivation of all varieties of seeds of this GMO) was overturned by the Council of State on 1 August 2013. The French government immediately announced that it would consider other measures to prevent the environmental risks related to the cultivation of this GMO, which would have to be taken before April 2014, before sowing (see EUROPE 10901). On 17 February, however, the Council of State threw out a proposed law from February aiming to ban the cultivation of MON 810, hence the draft decree, which was then put forward for public consultation. Readers may recall that in 2012, the French government invoked a safeguard clause following its failure to secure the European Commission's blessing for it to suspend the cultivation authorisation at European level, which it applied for in February 2012 under Article 34 of Regulation 1829/2003 on genetically modified foodstuffs and animal feed (see EUROPE 10577 and 10558). Earlier, another safeguard clause had been invalidated by the Court of Justice of the EU and the Council of State. At the time, it was the legal basis for the measure which was deemed inadequate.
MON 810 maize, which has been authorised in the EU since 1998, is grown mainly in Spain (116,306 hectares in 2012), Portugal (9,278 hectares), the Czech Republic (3,052 hectares), Romania (217 hectares) and Slovakia (189 hectares). The genetically modified starch potato Amflora by BASF, which has been authorised for cultivation and industrial processing in the EU, has not been grown since 2011. (AN/transl.fl)