4. Regulatory developments

The new European Directive 98/81/EC amending Directive 90/219/EEC was adopted by the Council of the European Union on October 26, 1998, but has still not been transposed into French law. Indeed, the French authorities wish to publish French laws on the contained use of GMOs and their deliberate release at the same time. However, as the European directive on the latter was only adopted in March 2001, transcription of the two directives into French law was not scheduled until July 2002. However, in its assessment of GMOs, the CGG has already adopted some of the modifications introduced by this new European directive. In particular, its definition of self-cloning is broader and more precise than that of the first law.

The new European Directive 98/81/EC offers a number of advantages over its predecessor:

• the classification...