EU Court overturns Austrian law to ban GM
"We are satisfied that EU law, which Member States including Austria only recently put in place, has been upheld," says Simon Barber, Director of the Plant Biotechnology Unit at EuropaBio - the EU Association for bioindustries. "Today's ruling confirms that Member States may not abuse safeguard procedures to prohibit the use of safe, licensed GM products in their territory."
On 13 March 2003, the Republic of Austria notified the Commission of the Oberösterreichisches Gentechnik-Verbotsgesetz 2002, a draft law of the Land Oberösterreich (Province of Upper Austria) banning genetic engineering. The measure was intended to prohibit the cultivation of GM seed and planting material and secure a derogation from EU rules (Directive 2001/18). The notification relied on a report entitled 'GVO-freie Bewirtschaftungsgebiete: Konzeption und Analyse von Szenarien und Umsetzungsschritten' (GMO-free areas of farming: conception and analysis of scenarios and steps for realisation).
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