Consideration of socio-economic factors in the context of cultivation of GMOs

The Conclusions of the Council of Ministers of December 2008 invite

(i) the Member States to collect and exchange information on socio-economic implication of the marketing of GMOs and
(ii) the Commission to submit a report to the Council and the European Parliament based on this information by June 2010.

The possible consideration of socio-economic factors in the authorisation of GMOs for cultivation has also been raised by several Member States in the Council of Ministers in March and June 2009(1).

In response to the Council's invitation to gather information, the Commission sent a letter and a guiding document to the Permanent Representations of the Member States in July 2009 inviting all Member States to provide the Commission with their information by 10 January 2010. The guiding document is a non-exhaustive list of potential areas, which could be relevant for the consideration of socio-economic factors in the context of cultivation of GMOs and includes a list of leading questions for each area, which should be answered where considered appropriate (some questions may not be relevant for all countries, regions or even for all types of GMOs).

Timeline: