The Turkish Council of State orders a stay on the importation of GMOs

OpenAlex · English

Following an appeal by the Turkish Medical Association, the Council of State ordered a stay of the importation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and products made from them, having held that the omission of a provision in the current Regulations, which would have specifically prohibited the import and placing on the market of GMOs containing antibiotic resistance genes, constituted a breach of the country's international obligations vis-a-vis the precautionary principle laid down in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and that a defence, argued by the Ministry, which was based on the mere absence of such a prohibitory provision under the relevant EU legislation was untenable.