A senior European Court has annulled the European Commission's decision to license a genetically modified potato, which was only the second GM crop to be made commercially available in the EU, stating that the Commission had not followed proper procedure in approving the variety.

The Amflora potato, a high starch variety produced by German chemical giant BASF for use in industry and animal feed, was licensed for cultivation in 2010. The Commission approved the potato following a review conducted by its food safety watchdog EFSA, which found no risk to the environment or human health from the controversial crop.  

The potato is no longer grown in Europe; BASF moved its GM operations to the United States in January 2012, withdrawing Amflora from sale and citing widespread hostility towards the controversial technology in Europe. In January 2013, the company announced it would be abandoning its pending applications for other GM crops, including three more GM potato varieties.

The General Court, which sits just below the Court of Justice, ruled that the Commission had not adequately consulted two committees set up to help deliberate on contested decisions such as GM approvals, and had therefore "departed from the rules of the authorisation process." The Court also found that the Commission may also have been obliged to submit the authorisation proposals to the EU Council.

According to the Court, "If the Commission had complied with [the] rules, the result of the procedure or the content of the contested decisions could have been substantially different." The Court determined, "Because the Commission significantly failed to fulfil its procedural obligations, the General Court has annulled the contested decisions."

The case was brought to Court by the government of Hungary, where production of GM crops has been banned (only one variety of GM crop is currently grown in the EU - Monsanto's Yieldgard maize). The Hungarian plaintiffs had support from the anti-GM governments of France, Poland, Luxembourg and Austria.

Although Amflora was withdrawn from sale almost two years ago, the case may have a bearing on another pending decision, over Dow Pioneer's TC1507 maize. In October, the General Court ruled that the Commission had delayed the approval process in response to a complaint from the maize's manufacturer.