Several European Ministers of Agriculture asked the European Commission on Tuesday, May 14, to clarify the provisions of the GMO Directive (2001/18/EC) to take into account plants resulting from new plant breeding techniques by mutagenesis.
In a judgment of July 2018, the EU Court of Justice ruled that organisms obtained by mutagenesis, in particular “new breeding techniques”, are GMOs within the meaning of the Directive on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment (see EUROPE 12070/6).
The Netherlands, which initiated the 'miscellaneous item' in the EU Council, called on the EU institutions to find a harmonised solution to this issue.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, confirmed that the Commission would not make a proposal on this subject before the end of its mandate. But he said that the Commissioner for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, continued to collect legal advice on these mutagenesis techniques and had asked Member States “to collect data so that the next Commission can act”.
Several countries (including France, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Finland, United Kingdom) have asked the Commission to take an initiative with a view to adopting new rules.
Belgium stressed that the current legislation was no longer in line with scientific advances. Only Poland has spoken out clearly against these new techniques, which it considers to be GMOs and which consumers do not want. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)