This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Strengthened regulations on GMOs
05/12/2002
New regulations on the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment were put in place today.
The regulations, necessary to implement EU Directive 2001/18/EC, introduce a more transparent regime to control releases of GMOs. England has similar regulations in place, Wales and Northern Ireland will follow shortly.
The regulations - which followed a process of detailed consultation - provide additional safeguards to human health, the environment, and the wider public beyond the previous regulatory framework.
They take account of advances in genetic modification technology and scientific knowledge.
The new regulations provide for:
- an explicit requirement for environmental risk assessments to cover indirect and long-term effects.
- the introduction of mandatory post-market monitoring to look for unanticipated effects of any GMO that is released.
- mandatory public consultation before decisions are taken on applications for consent to release GMOs.
- mandatory labelling for all GMOs released commercially in the EU.
- GMOs must also be traceable throughout the production and supply chain.
- phasing out of antibiotic resistance markers that may have adverse effects on human health and the environment.
- time limits on all commercial approvals (max. 10 years) after which consents must be reassessed.
The regulations will come into force as from today.
The Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 have been developed in conjunction with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations to ensure that they are workable, flexible and consistent with law in other parts of the UK.
The regulations transpose EU Directive 2001/18/EC. Many of the obligations in the Directive allowed little scope for interpretation or variance when transposing into national legislation since the new Directive remains firmly based on a scientific assessment of risk.
The Scottish Executive held two 12-week-long public consultations on the implementation of the Directive. Each consultation sought views from stakeholders including local authorities, community councils, Health Boards, research establishments, universities, environmental groups and farming interests as well as MSPs. The first consultation set out the background to the Directive, examined the main changes and asked for comments on key implementation issues. The second invited comments on the draft implementing regulations.
The regulations were scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament's Transport & Environment Committee on November 27and approved by Parliament on 4 December 2002. England already has similar regulations in place; Wales and Northern Ireland will follow shortly.