25/03/2011

A senior CEJ (European Court of justice) lawyer has declared that France’s decision to suspend Monsanto’s Mon 810 maize is illegal according to European law. The CEJ’s role is to ensure that EU legislation is interpreted and applied across member states. The French Court’s Avocat Général (Advocate General; senior lawmaker) made the declaration after receiving a legal complaint from American multinational Monsanto.

The Advocate’s decision is not final, although in 80% of cases judges in Luxembourg have sided with a member country’s lawyers. France suspended growing of the Mon 810 maize in February 2008, using a legal loophole in European Legislation and citing “serious risks to the environment.”

According to Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi, “The French authorities should not have suspended Mon 810 without first having sought approval from the European Comission to do so on the grounds of urgent environmental protection.” As the authorities did not follow this procedure, Mengozzi explained, “The ‘get-out clause’ used by the French Government, that GMOs (genetically modified organisms) could self seed and cross-pollinate in the surrounding area, is therefore inadmissible.”

He estimated that emergency measures could, however, be adopted, “if there is a risk to human health, wildlife or the environment, which can be proven,” this would see the French Government’s decision upheld. 

There has been speculation that Mengozzi’s ruling risks reigniting the debate over GM technology which has divided European states; six other EU states (Germany, Hungary, Greece, Luxembourg, Austria and Bulgaria) have also banned Monsanto’s maize from their territory.