EU court annuls Amflora approvals

摘要

The EU General Court has annulled the European Commission’s decisions of 2010 to grant cultivation and feed use approvals to BASF’s genetically modified improved starch Amflora potatoes. The Commission did not follow correct procedures according to EU GMO registration laws, the Court says. The Amflora approval represented the first EU GMO planting authorisation for 12 years, with a new Health and Consumers Commissioner, John Dalli, indicating an end to the stalled registration process (Agrow No 587, p 12). However, BASF halted the commercialisation of Amflora two years later due to continuing political hostility to GM crops in Europe (Agrow No 632, p 2). Such political views had led to the court case, which was supported by a group of member states that had imposed bans on Amflora. Hungary brought the action, claiming that Amflora presented a risk to human and animal health, and the environment. It was supported by France, Luxembourg, Austria and Poland.