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Delay in EU GMO re-regulation?

04/18/2023 - According to insider reports, the proposal for a new EU regulation on GMOs is being delayed. Among other things, this could be due to the commitment of some environment ministers, in particular the Austrian one.

Regulatory inspectors reportedly criticised impact assessment

Originally, the EU Commission planned to present its proposal on the new regulation of genetic engineering on 7 June 2023. This is still in its work plan. But according to insiders, the EU's Regulatory Scrutiny Board, which monitors the quality of the Commission's impact assessments, has sent the proposal and its impact assessment back to the draft stage. The reason is said to be the insufficient assessment of the impact on consumer confidence, the organic sector, the environment and health. Therefore, a delay is expected at least until the end of June or later.

EU Environment Ministers admonish Commission

At a Council meeting in Brussels in March 2023, the environment ministers of several EU countries called for mandatory risk assessment and labelling to continue to apply to new genetic engineering methods. "The EU Commission's efforts to weaken the risk assessment for plants produced with new genomic techniques are going in the wrong direction," said the German Environment Ministry.

German Agriculture Ministry also against genetic engineering deregulation

At a conference on the topic of genetic engineering detection methods, Agriculture State Secretary Silvia Bender had previously made clear once again that the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture is also against GMO deregulation.

Austria particularly active in favour of risk assessment and labelling

Austria, which is traditionally particularly critical of GMOs, had put this issue on the agenda of the EU Council of Environment Ministers. Its Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler and Consumer Protection Minister Johannes Rauch recently followed up with a letter to the responsible EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and demanded the retention of safety testing and compulsory labelling for all genetically modified products.

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