Farming regulations: German Constitutional Court confirms biotech law
(25 November 2010) The Federal Constitutional
Court of Germany (the BVerfG, seated in Karlsruhe) has confirmed essential
stipulations of what is known as the ‘genetic engineering act’. Currently-valid
restrictions on the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) plants remain in
effect thereby. In 2005, the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt had filed suit
against the genetic engineering act put through by the ruling federal government
of the time, a coalition of Socialists and Greens.
Saxony-Anhalt had raised particular issue with the
regulations on legal responsibility and on the keeping of a site register,
claiming that these inappropriately hinder the cultivation of GM plants.
According to the suit, such regulations are compatible neither with the freedom
of employment ensured by the constitution nor with the guarantee of ownership
and the concept of equality before the law.
In the decision announced on 24.11.2010, the
Constitutional Court dismissed the suit and confirmed the restrictive
regulations applied through the genetic engineering act to cultivation of
genetically modified plants. In their legal reasoning, the judges in Karlsruhe
cited “…particular duty of care in view of the fact that
the state of scientific knowledge has not yet been finally established
when assessing the long-term consequences of the use of genetic engineering”.
With regard to legal responsibility, regulations of the
genetic engineering act remain valid therewith. According to these regulations,
a farmer who sows GM plants is liable for all economic damage that results in
conventional stocks through cross-pollination. This liability is binding even in
the case in which the ‘GMO-farmer’ has complied with all directives and
therefore bears no fault for the cross-breeding damage. In the case that no
individual source of the damage may be identified, all GM-planting farmers of
the affected region are collectively responsible.
Legally binding directives on best-practice procedures
have existed since 2008 for the cultivation of GM plants and particularly for GM
maize. According to these, a minimum distance of 150 metres is to be kept
between fields of GM and conventional maize. For fields with organic maize, this
distance is even increased to 300 metres.
Saxony-Anhalt also failed in its suit against the public
availability of the site register. The federal state had argued that the
register would provide radical opponents of gene technology with information on
the precise whereabouts of fields with GM plants, which then would be vulnerable
to acts of destruction.
Changes in the biotechnology law are still expected this
year. In particular, federal states are expected to receive greater leeway in
the determination of internal rules for the cultivation of GM plants. Before
presentation of a concrete draft in relation to the issue, Minister Aigner had
announced her intention of waiting for the decision of the Constitutional Court.
See also on GMO Compass:
Further information:
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