Use of genetically modified food and feed on member states' territory

The request was successful.

Dear European Parliament,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Possibility for the Member States to restrict or prohibit the use of genetically modified food and feed on their territory

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Freitag

AccesDocs, European Parliament

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

 

Your request regarding the possibility for the Member States to restrict
or prohibit the use of genetically modified food and feed on their
territory is a request for information rather than for documents.

Therefore, it was transferred to the competent service, European
Parliament's Citizen's Enquire Service, ASK EP),in copy of this email.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourserv....

They will reply in the shortest possible delay.

Kind regards

 

 

TRANSPARENCY UNIT
 
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[1][email address]
[2]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
 
 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

AskEP, European Parliament

A(2018)06478

NC/cns

Dear Mr Freitag,

 

The Citizens’ Enquiries Unit of the European Parliament (EP) has been
asked to reply to your request for information regarding GMOs.

 

Please note that your message has been read attentively and its contents
duly noted.

 

The EU’s regulatory framework for general regulation on food law,
[1]Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and
requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority
and laying down procedures in matters of food safety is based on the
precautionary principle.

 

Article 7(1) of the regulation defines the precautionary principle as
follows: ‘In specific circumstances where, following an assessment of
available information, the possibility of harmful effects on health is
identified but scientific uncertainty persists, provisional risk
management measures necessary to ensure the high level of health
protection chosen in the Community may be adopted, pending further
scientific information for a more comprehensive risk assessment.’

 

Nevertheless Article 7(2) states ‘Measures adopted on the basis of
paragraph 1 shall be proportionate and no more restrictive of trade than
is required to achieve the high level of health protection chosen in the
Community, regard being had to technical and economic feasibility and
other factors regarded as legitimate in the matter under consideration.
The measures shall be reviewed within a reasonable period of time,
depending on the nature of the risk to life or health identified and the
type of scientific information needed to clarify the scientific
uncertainty and to conduct a more comprehensive risk assessment.’

 

As pointed out in the [2]Fact Sheet: Questions and Answers on EU's
policies on GMOs of April 2015, ‘The approach chosen in the EU as regards
GMOs is a precautionary approach imposing a pre-market authorisation for
any GMO to be placed on the market and a post-market environmental
monitoring for any authorised GMO. This approach ensures a high level of
protection of human and animal health and the environment.’

 

In its [3]Judgment in Case C-111/16 of 13 September 2017 the Court of
Justice stated that Member States may not adopt emergency measures
regarding genetically modified food and feed unless it is evident that
there is a serious risk to health or the environment. Further information
is available in the [4]Court of Justice press release of 13 September
2017.

 

Further information is available on the European Commission’s [5]summary
webpage on GMO legislation. The European Parliament legislative train
application provides an overview of the [6]current state of play with the
Commission proposal for a regulation of 22 April 2015, which would allow
Member States to restrict or prohibit the use of GMOs for food or feed
purposes in their territory.

We hope the above information is of help and we thank you for having
contacted the European Parliament.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Citizens' Enquiries Unit

[7]www.europarl.europa.eu/askEP

 

Disclaimer: Please note that the information given by the Citizens'
Enquiries Unit of the European Parliament is not legally binding.

Please also note that this email box is used for sending emails only.
Incoming emails are not treated. If you wish to contact the Citizens'
Enquiries Unit, please use our [8]webform.

 

References

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1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEM...
3. http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/do...
4. https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs...
5. https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/gmo/legi...
6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislativ...
7. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/askEP
8. https://www.secure.europarl.europa.eu/at...