Press Release: GMO: Commission asks Council to agree on its proposal to grant Member States more subsidiarity on cultivation

On the 26th September 2013, the General Court of the European Union delivered a ruling finding that the Commission failed to act on a GMO cultivation request which had been submitted twelve years ago in 2001.

In line with this ruling, the Commission on 6 November 2013 acted by referring the cultivation request to the Council of Ministers. It is now up to the Ministers to take a position by qualified majority on this request.

• Primary Source

European Commission: RAPID: Memo, MEMO/13/952: Questions and Answers on EU's policies on cultivation and imports of GMOs http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-952_en.htm

European Commission: RAPID: Memo, MEMO/13/960: Statement by EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg, on Commission's decision on GM Pioneer 1507 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-960_en.pdf

EurActiv, 07.11.13: Brussels reopens 12-year old GMO cultivation request http://www.euractiv.com/cap/brussels-reopens-12-year-old-gmo-news-531549

EUObserver, 07.11.13: EU commission passes the buck on GM maize http://euobserver.com/environment/122016

ESO: Background information: UK set for GM food push in Europe http://www.europeansources.info/record/uk-set-for-gm-food-push-in-europe/

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