Skip to content
MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION (D069145/02 – 2020/2891(RSP))

On the draft Commission implementing decision authorising the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified soybean MON 87751 × MON 87701 × MON 87708 × MON 89788, pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council

B-9-2020-0411

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety · Rapporteur: Tilly Metz Günther Sidl, Anja Hazekamp, Eleonora Evi, Sirpa Pietikäinen

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 25 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament's resolution objects to a draft Commission decision authorising products from genetically modified soybean MON 87751 × MON 87701 × MON 87708 × MON 89788 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003. It says the draft exceeds the Commission's implementing powers and is not consistent with Union law, and calls on the Commission to withdraw it. It raises concerns about missing analysis of herbicide residues, Bt toxins and immune effects, and about the lack of maximum residue levels and controls for glufosinate. It criticises authorisation without a qualified majority of member states and repeats calls to stop authorising such GMOs and herbicide-tolerant crops. It links Union soybean imports to deforestation in Brazil and Argentina and asks the Commission to suspend imports of GM soybeans from those countries until binding anti-deforestation rules exist.

Key points

  1. Parliament considers the draft Commission implementing decision exceeds the implementing powers provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003.
  2. It considers the draft decision not consistent with Union law because it is not compatible with the aim of ensuring a high level of protection of human and animal health and consumer interests.
  3. It calls on the Commission to withdraw its draft implementing decision.
  4. It welcomes the Commission's recognition of the need to take sustainability into account in GMO authorisation decisions, but criticises the authorisation of another GM soybean for import on 28 September 2020.
  5. It calls on the Commission to develop sustainability criteria with full involvement of Parliament and to provide information on the process and timeframe.
  6. It urges the Commission to take into account the Union's obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
  7. It repeats its call on the Commission to stop authorising GMOs when no opinion is delivered by member states in the Appeal Committee.
  8. It repeats its call not to authorise herbicide-tolerant GM crops until health risks from residues, break-down products and combinatorial effects are comprehensively investigated case by case.
  9. It repeats its call not to authorise imports for food or feed of GM plants tolerant to a herbicide-active substance not authorised for use in the Union.
  10. It repeats its call to EFSA to develop and systematically use methods to identify unintended effects of stacked GM events, such as adjuvant properties of Bt toxins.
  11. It repeats its concern that Union dependence on imported soybean feed causes deforestation in third countries.
  12. It welcomes the planned Commission proposal on deforestation-linked products due by June 2021 and calls for immediate suspension of imports of GM soybeans cultivated in Brazil and Argentina until binding mechanisms are in place.

Who is affected

  • The Commission, which is asked to withdraw the draft decision, stop authorising certain GMOs and suspend imports of GM soybeans from Brazil and Argentina.
  • Member states, whose competent authorities raised critical comments and whose lack of qualified majority support is highlighted.
  • The European Food Safety Authority, which is asked to develop and use methods to identify unintended effects of stacked GM events.
  • Consumers and operators in the Union, for whom protection of health and the environment is at stake.
  • Brazil and Argentina, whose GM soybean cultivation is linked to deforestation and whose exports to the Union are targeted by the call for suspension.

Figures and deadlines

  • 17 December 2015: date Monsanto Europe N.V. submitted the application for the stacked GM soybean.
  • 26 October 2020: date of the Standing Committee vote at which no opinion was delivered.
  • 31 July 2018: date the approval of glufosinate for use in the Union expired.
  • 2020, 2021 and 2022: years of the coordinated multiannual control programme under which member states are not obliged to measure glufosinate residues.
  • 36 resolutions: total adopted by Parliament in its eighth term objecting to GMO authorisations.
  • 97 % and 100 %: shares of soya cultivated in Brazil and Argentina respectively that is GM soya.
  • 13.8 %: how much larger the Union's carbon footprint from Brazilian soya imports is than China's.
  • June 2021: due date for the Commission's announced legislative proposal on deforestation-linked products.

Legal basis: Articles 7(3) and 19(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed.