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Early action on release of genetically modified organisms

European environment ministers meeting in December agreed to accelerate the process for strengthening and harmonizing national legislation governing the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment. A number of proposed amendments to the European legislation...

European environment ministers meeting in December agreed to accelerate the process for strengthening and harmonizing national legislation governing the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment. A number of proposed amendments to the European legislation governing the release of GMOs - directive 90/220/EEC - are in abeyance pending an opinion from the European Parliament. In the meantime, the Council of Ministers meeting on 22 December decided to incorporate aspects of the proposed revisions into the way Member States interpret the existing legislation. The ministers agreed the following declaration at the end of the debate : "Without prejudice to the expeditious revision of Directive 90/220, noting especially the need to further strengthen risk assessment, as also pointed out by the European Parliament, and monitoring procedures, the Member States intend already now, when applying the existing Directive 90/220/EEC, to take into account the underlying principles for risk assessment and monitoring resulting from the work done in preparation of the Council." The main issues covered by the revisions to the legislation are ethics, labelling of products, the time limitation for the validity of consents for the placing on the market of products, and consultation of the public prior to GMO releases. The President of the meeting, the Austrian environment minister, Martin Bartensteim, said it was urgent to revise the directive in order to solve the present situation regarding implementation, which is far from satisfactory. He noted that, pending the opinion of the European Parliament, the approach proposed by the Presidency - as regards the environmental risk assessment based on common principles, monitoring, procedures giving more say to Council, time limitation of consents and consultation of scientific committees - was acceptable to delegations. Several delegations reported on the actions undertaken at national level to restrict the use and placing on the market of GMOs. Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard underlined the need to speed up discussion on the Commission's proposal, which aims to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the decision-making process in order to build up long-term confidence and trust of the public by meeting the concerns of consumers. Since the European Parliament is not expected to finalise its first reading until February 1999, the earliest a common position can be adopted will be the March meeting of the Council.

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