The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has validated the procedure enabling the European Commission to restrict, at the request of a Member State and with the tacit consent of the marketing authorisation holder, the area authorised for the cultivation of a genetically modified organism (GMO), in a judgment handed down on Thursday 5 February (joined cases C-364/24 and C-393/24).
In Italy, a farmer is contesting a €50,000 fine imposed on him by the Italian authorities for planting genetically modified maize (MON 810). However, this crop is banned in Italy under the implementing decision (2016/321) adopted on the basis of Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release into the environment of GMOs.
In its judgment, the Court takes account of the fact that a ban on the cultivation of a GMO, such as that applicable in Italy, is imposed with the tacit consent of the holder of the authorisation relating to that GMO. It also stresses that the EU legislator has a wide margin of discretion when legislating on GMO cultivation, given its political, economic and social repercussions.
In this context, the European Court of Justice considers that the procedure provided for since 2015, which allows Member States, in line with subsidiarity, to obtain a ban on the cultivation of a GMO on their territory, without any particular justification, when the authorisation holder does not object, is not contrary to EU law.
In particular, the Court finds that such a mechanism does not infringe the principle of proportionality or discriminate between farmers in different Member States.
Nor does the ban on cultivating a GMO constitute an infringement of the free movement of goods, as it does not prevent companies from importing products containing that GMO or consumers from buying them.
Finally, the Court held that the obligation to give reasons for restricting or prohibiting the cultivation of a GMO applies only where the holder of the authorisation concerned opposes it.
See the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/klk (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)