Brussels, 18/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - National authorities can not refuse to provide
information, in response to requests, on the location of crops containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). According to a judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Communities
on Tuesday 17 February, public order concerns are no justification for refusing the public's right to access to information.
This was the Court's response to a question from the French Council of State on the interpretation in Community law of requirements with regard to public information on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment. According to the Court, all the information submitted to the authorities as part of the procedure for authorising a GMO crop must be made available to the public. This information must contain a detailed description of the location and the area likely to be affected by plants containing GMOs. It follows, the Court says, that the public has the right to know where the locations in question are.
In 2004, the local authorities in Sausheim (Haute-Alsace, France) refused to disclose to Mr Pierre Azelvandre information on the location of open field tests of genetically modified organisms. Azelvandre applied to the Committee on Access to Administrative Documents (CAAD), which ordered the partial disclosure of the information sought, but denied access to information that would allow the test sites to be located.
The Council of State, to which the case was ultimately referred, asked the Court to provide a closer definition of “location of release”, and to assess the validity of the argument advanced by the local authority and the CAAD that disclosure of the location of the test sites would endanger public order. The Court concluded that the right of access to public documents took priority. Firstly, the judgement says, precise information of the location of the GMO trials was an integral part of the trials' authorisation procedure. Public access to this information in its entirety is guaranteed by Parliament and Council Directive 2001/18/EC on the release of GMOs. Secondly, according to the Court judgment, under the terms of Council directive 90/313/EEC on access to environmental information, the authorities cannot deny full access. The directive only allows exemptions to protect national defence, public safety, trade and industrial secret and environmental preservation interests. The Court formed the opinion that none of these conditions related to the location of GMO trials.
Ecologists have welcomed the judgment. “It's always good when the Court enforces legislation,” said Marco Contiero, of the GMO desk in the Brussels office of Greenpeace. The way information is provided is not consist across Europe, he said. German authorities have shown they want to cooperate with the public, but that is not the case in the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, where similar cases are currently going through the courts. (C.D./transl.rt)