London (1.1.09) – In 2004, on the Commission’s application, the Court of Justice held that France had infringed Community law by failing to transpose into national law, by 17 October 2002, the directive on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). After the Commission had instigated proceedings before the Court for failure to comply with that judgment, the French authorities adopted, on 15 and 19 March 2007, substantive national transposition measures and, subsequently, the Law of 25 June 2008 on GMOs.

After examining those documents, the Commission informed the Court, by letter of 30 July 2008, of its view that those national measures fully completed the transposition of the directive and that, accordingly, the judgment of the Court had been complied with in its entirety. The Commission also stated in that letter that its request that France be ordered to pay a penalty payment had, therefore, become devoid of purpose. On the other hand, the Commission persisted with its request that France be ordered to pay a lump sum.

The Court finds that the reference date for assessing whether there has been a failure to comply with the judgment is February 2006, the date of expiry of the period prescribed in the reasoned opinion issued by the Commission, and that it is obvious that, by that date, with some exceptions, France had not taken any steps to comply with the initial 2004 judgment establishing its failure to fulfil obligations.

In the Court’s view, the circumstances of this case are fairly assessed by setting the amount of the lump sum which France will have to pay at € 10 million (1).

Further south, Italy has approved the resumption of biotech field trials after a hiatus of 10 years. Protocols for nine crops were approved but leave implementing regulations up to the regions – many of which have declared themselves to be GMO free (2). While most Italian regions have declared themselves to be “GM-free”, some regions do appear to be open to the trials of GM crops/ they include Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna, all in the north of Italy.

Nine protocols have been approved; one each for kiwis, citrus, sweet cherries, strawberries, corn, egg plants, olives, tomatoes, and grapes. The decree leaves it up to each region to develop implementing regulations, including the authority to adopt even more restrictive measures than the original protocols in order “to reduce the risk of contamination.”

The protocols all include stringent measures to prevent any “contamination” to conventional agriculture; they include the required use of anti-birds nets over GM kiwi-trees, a minimum distance of 1,000 meters between biotech and conventional maize fields, hand harvesting of GM-maize, and, in some cases, sterilization of the soil and incineration of the residues. Furthermore the trial fields must remain idle for up to three years following the trials.

Most Italian scientists remain sceptical about the actual significance of these protocols, feeling that too many constraints exist to make field tests practical. Many research centres have already abandoned agricultural biotechnology research because there is little likelihood that any farm in Italy will be able to benefit from such research in the foreseeable future.

Back in Brussels, the council of EU environment ministers agreed, in spite of indications from some Member States, that no fundamental changes will be made to the EU approval process for genetically modified plants and that GM plants should continue to be approved “without unreasonable delays” (3). The on-going process, in which the currently applied guidelines on safety assessments of GM plants are appraised and extended, should be intensified and accelerated.

Contrary to French demands, there will be no initial inclusion of socio-economic criteria in the approval process of GM plants. To date, the definition of such criteria remains controversial, as does the primary question of their objective measurement on a scientific foundation. General regional cultivation bans for approved GM plants also remain prohibited; such measures must be derived from scientifically sound environmental impact assessments.. As in the past, gene-technology-free zones will continue to be possible only on a voluntary basis.

Sources:

1. Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-121/07; Commission v French Republic. Press Release No 87/08 (9.12.08). Court of Justice of the European Communities (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902209965.htm)

2. Italy approves GM field trials for some fruit and vegetables. Flex News (11.12.08) (http://www.flex-news-food.com/pages/20956/Biotech/Italy/italy-approves-gm-field-trials-fruit-vegetables.html)

3. No U-turn: EU environmental ministers agree on GMOs. GMO Compass (8.12.08) (http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/news/404.docu.html)

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