1. Existing regulations

In Europe, the assessment of risks associated with the use of genetically modified organisms or micro-organisms (GMOs or GMMs) is governed mainly by two directives adopted by the Council of the European Union.

Directive 98/81/EC of October 26, 1998 amending an earlier directive 90/219/EEC describes the conditions for the contained use of genetically modified micro-organisms (cf. ).

For the deliberate release of GMOs, the Council of the European Union replaced the original Directive 90/220/EEC with Directive 2001/18/EC of March...