«This legal act establishes temporary exceptions for clinical trials of such a vaccine, in particular in the conduct of environmental risk assessment and the use of GMOs provided for in EU legislation. It also extends these temporary exemptions to allow Member States to use medicinal products containing GMOs for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 in certain exceptional or urgent situations as defined in pharmacological legislation, ”the statement said.
However, the sale of products containing GMOs still requires special permits from the authorized control authorities.
The introduced exemptions from GMO legislation will remain in force until the WHO recognizes the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic — or during the period when the health emergency regime applies, in accordance with the decision of the European Commission.
The norms introduced by the Council of the EU were approved by the European Commission on June 17. On July 10, they were supported by the European Parliament. The relevant legal act is expected to be published in the Official Journal of the EU on July 17, and will enter into force the next day.
