In a judgment delivered on Wednesday 14 March in Case T-33/16, the General Court decided that environmental law in the sense of Regulation 1367/2006, which introduces provisions from the Aarhus Regulation into the EU, covers all legislative proposals regulating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in view of managing the risks resulting from these organisms on human and animal health.
Consequently, the General Court annuls the decision whereby the Commission rejected an application by the German NGO TestBioTech for an internal review of the marketing authorisation granted in April 2015 to products containing genetically modified soybeans produced by Pioneer Overseas and Monsanto Europe.
According to TestBioTech, which filed the complaint at the General Court (see EUROPE 11522), the application for internal review adopted on the basis of Regulation 1829/2003 is linked to questions covered by the scope of application for the Aarhus regulation. The latter allows NGOs to participate in decision making decisions involving the environment.
In its ruling, the General Court agrees with the reasons provided by the German NGO. It observes that any GMO must be cultivated, as a general rule, in the natural environment and therefore properly constitute an element of the environment before it can be processed into food or feed. It follows that the provisions of the rules on the labelling of GMOs whose objective is to regulate the effect on human or animal health of GMOs also fall within the area of the environment.
The Commission therefore erred in concluding that the TestBioTech complaints could not be examined within the framework of that regulation. The Commission took note of the ruling by the General Court, which it would like to analyse in greater detail before deciding on what action it would subsequently taking this case.
TestBioTech, on the contrary, said “the decision today is an important step towards strengthening the precautionary principle in the EU” and added in its press release that “the General Court of the European Union today confirmed the right of civil society organisations to submit legal cases concerning the health risks of genetically engineered plants”. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)