Brussels, 02/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the Commission rejected the request by Austria to obtain authorisation for a three-year ban on using GMOs in Upper Austria through derogation from European Union legislation governing the voluntary dissemination of GMOs into the environment (Directive 90/220/EEC now replaced by Directive 2001/18/EC). Invited to enact on the legal justification for regional prohibition measures notified by Austria on 13 March in the presumed interest of the environment and agriculture, the Commission felt after consulting the scientific committee of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the proposal of legislation concerned did not meet the very strict conditions that must be met so that a Member State may be authorised to derogate from Community legislation (existence of new scientific proof relating to the protection of the environment, or the need to face up to a specific problem that has come about after adoption of the harmonised legislation in the Member State calling for derogation).
In order to justify the ban, the regional authorities of Upper Austria had invoked the need to preserve traditional farm products and to protect plant and animal genetic resources against the risk of contamination by GMOs until the issue of coexistence between GMO and non-GMO (traditional and organic) crops has been settled. In the light of the detailed assessment of the EFSA scientific committee, the committee has ruled that Austria has not provided any new data that enables validation of the provisions of the Community legislation relating to risk assessment, and had not put forward any new scientific evidence allowing a general ban on crops from genetically-engineered seeds and on the use of transgenic animals for reproduction purposes to be justified. The Commission took its decision in the light of such findings. Environment Commissioner Margo Wallström said: "In its role of Guardian of the Treaty, the Commission can only reject the Austrian request. I have, of course, full respect for the concerns of the Austrian authorities (…). However, I would like to point out that these are common concerns, shared by many regions across Europe, for which it is possible to find a viable response within the existing legal framework".