Half a Century of Undue Delays in the EU Approvals of GM Products

A document issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) declaring that "the European Commission has failed to fulfill its obligations under EU laws on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms and by failing to submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken in laying down the procedure for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission."

According to EuropaBio, to date, 50 GM crop products still need to be assessed by the European Food Safety Association, and 21 are awaiting Commission and Member State Action. Delays are not considered due to issues on safety since most of the crop and event applications have already undergone risk assessment in the EU and have been approved in a number of other countries. Hence, EU needs a science-based, predictable and workable system for GM approvals in compliance with EU law.

See the original news at http://www.europabio.org/positions/half-century-undue-delays-eu-approval-gm-products. Original document from ECJ can be seen at http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?doclang=EN&text=&pageIndex=1&part=1&mode=req&docid=142241&occ=first&dir=&cid=905564.