CJEU renders decision on the interpretation of the GMO Directive

Extract

Case C-528/16, Confédération paysanne and others v Premier ministre, CJEU (Grand Chamber), 25 July 2018

The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered its binding judgment in case C-528/16, pertaining to the interpretation of particular provisions in Directive 2001/18/EC, the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms (‘GMO Directive’) as well as provisions in Directive 2002/53/EC on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species (‘Common Catalogue Directive’).

Legal context

The case stemmed from an implied denial by the French Prime Minister and the Minister of agriculture of the request by the Confédération paysanne and other associations to subject herbicide-tolerant sunflower and oilseed rape varieties to the requirements of environmental risk assessment and traceability, labelling and monitoring obligations as required for release of transgenic plants. The Conseil d’Etat in France (the ‘Referring Court’) referred the questions on the interpretation of the GMO Directive and Common Catalogue Directive to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling. Among others, the following question was referred to the CJEU: