GMO-free europe

This network of 26 regional governments jointly defends the common interest of keeping their regions free of GMOs. The members of the network collaborate on political as well as technical issues.
Co-ordinated by Upper Austria and Tuscany originally ten European regions declared themselves the Network of GMO-free regions (pdf) on 4th November 2003.
A document asserting the right of regions to forbid GMOs within their territories was signed by the agriculture ministers of the ten regions.

The network has since grown to include the following 39 regions (from 6 countries):

• Austria: Upper Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, Lower Austria
• France: Aquitaine, Limousin, L'Ile de France, Bretagne, Poitou Charentes, Midi Pyrenees, Picardie, Centre, Bourgogne, Haute Normandie, Nord Pas de Calais, Basse Normandie, Franche Comte, Rhône Alpes (about to join)
• Spain: Gobierno Vasco (Basque Country), Asturias, Menorca
• UK:The Scottish Highlands & Islands, Wales
• Greece:Thrace-Rodopi (Drama-Kavala-Xanthi), ENAE (The Greek Union of all 54 Prefectures)
• ItalyToscana, Marche, Bolzano, Lazio, Sardegna, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Umbria, Molis, Piemont, Abruzzo (about to join)

Network of GMO-free Regions in Europe: (c) Land Oberösterreich

Charter of the regions and local authorities of Europe on the subject of coexistence of genetically modified crops with traditional and organic farming

At their meeting in Florence on 4 February 2005 the European network of GMO-free Regions made allowing regional governments which have taken a clear stance against GMOs to declare GMO-free zones one of their core aims.
The meeting marked the signing of a common document named Europe's Regional Governments and Local Authorities Charter (pdf), which officially promotes and enhances existing cooperation in the field of traditional agriculture. It also aims at safeguarding genuine and high-quality products, increasing the autonomy of farmers.

The document sums up in ten bullets the future commitments for each member region. These include devising specific projects to support traditional agriculture and organic farming, anti-GMO measures, safeguarding certified quality products and biodiversity. The members are discussing possible sanctions to apply against environment damages, as well as levying a tax on farmers in order to ensure that regional governments will have the necessary funds to cover all costs. Member regions also pledge to favour 'safe research', i.e. research which is exclusively carried out at authorised sites, and to promote the use of GMO-free seeds. Finally, they also pledge to push for international agreements that guarantee stocks of GMO-free raw materials for the future.

The regions are responding to the Commission Recommendation on measures that EU member states could take to ensure the co-existence of genetically modified (GM) with conventional and organic crops, which was published on 23 July (pdf). They state that the policy laid down in the Commission Recommendation could threaten high quality and organic production systems. According to the ten regions "the acceptance of a coexistence of GM and GM free organism as defined in the Commission Recommendation of 23 July 2003 could imply the fruitlessness of what has been made up to now by the public and private actors at the level of production system, regulation, and regional promotion."

Since they feel that so far the Commission has failed to protect their interest, some regions have already made their own laws. During their meeting in 2004 in Brussels several examples of such laws were presented by regional authorities. Agricultural minister Barbini from the Italian region Tuscany explained that his region has made a special law (pdf) that bans GMOs. He stated that Tuscany does not believe in the coexistence concept given the small size of the enterprises in his region, that does not allow for the separation of GM and non GM crops. He appealed to all regions in Europe that have similar conditions to join Tuscany in order to preserve biodiversity.

Contact

To contact the network please contact either of the leading regions Tuscany or Upper Austria:

Regione Toscana
Orazio Cellini
Rond Point Schuman 14
1049 Bruxelles
Belgium
phone: +32-2-2868563

Land Oberöstereich
Gerald Lohnauer
Bureau de Liaison du
Land de la Haute-Austriche
Rue Joseph II, 36
1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
phone: +32-2-2231404