Hungary

GMO-free news from Hungary

This links to a page with GENET-news from Hungary that are relevant for the development of GMO-free zones.

Updates + Overviews

Click on the map to enlarge it or dowload the kmz file to view it in Google Earth.

National: Since September 2006 Hungary has banned the cultivation of Monsanto’s maize MON 810. Since 2010, Hungary has banned the Amflora potato as well, and filed a suit at the European Court of Justice against its approval.

Regional: Since 2005, there have been two GMO-free regions in Hungary: Southern Transdanubia and Western Transdanubia. Five counties are also GMO-Free: Fejér, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Hajdú Bihar and more recently Bacs-Kiskun, one of the biggest grain producing county in Hungary.

Local: 76 municipalities engaged either to declaring their territory a GMO-free zone, or to following a GMO-free policy in their services, or to enhancing and supporting GMO-free agriculture with all the possible ways: Tápiógyöngye (5331 ha), Perenye, Bakonygyirót, Újudvar (17ha), Nemessándorháza (1115 ha), Olasz (600 ha), Balatonmáriafürdõ (270 ha), Balatonszemes, Bicske (83 000 ha), Nick (1140 ha), Nagytilaj, Gönyû, Bosta, Szenta (6446 ha), Magyarszentmiklós, Somogytúr, Zalaszentgyörgy (980 ha), Mihályi (16,29 km2), Magyarlukafa (1373 ha), Vének, Kelebia (protected area), Várpalota, Balatonboglár, Mezõhék (8982 ha), Hódmezõvásárhely (48 141 ha), Bakonyszentlászló, Fenyõfõ, Sormás, Marcali, Petõháza. The Galga-menti small region, composed of 18 municipalities has also declared GMO-free.

30.01.2009: Hungary to defy European Commission call to scrap ban on GMO crops
Hungary will keep its ban on GMO (genetically modified organisms) maize imports and the planting of GMO seeds, Agriculture Ministry undersecretary Zoltan Gogos announced.
The European Commission recently called on Hungary to entirely lift its GMO ban. Last week the EU's executive arm backed proposals that would grant standard ten-year licences for the two GMO maize types. Hungary, one of the region's biggest grain producers, became the first country in eastern Europe to ban GMO crops and foods in 2005, when it outlawed the planting of MON 810 maize seeds, which are marketed by the US biotech company Monsanto. Hungary Around the Clock, Hungary: Hungary to defy European Commission call to scrap ban on GMO crops

Organisations and institutions active on GMO

MTVSZ/FoE Hungary (English) View the map of GMO-free regions in Hungarian
ETK (English/Hungarian)
Genpiszka Halozat (Hungarian)
Protect the Future (Vedegylet) (English/Hungarian)
Greenpeace Hungary (Hungarian)

Presentations

Lucern, April 2009
Róbert Fidrich, MTVSZ/FoE
Presentation: GMO-free Hungary (pdf, 732 kb, English)

Warsaw, February 2009
Veronika Móra
Presentation: Hungarian regulation and the moratorium on MON810 (ppt, 919 kb, English)

Berlin, January 2005
The GE-free region of Karcag, Erika Andrási, GMO free municipality of Karcag
Preserving GMO free agriculture production in Hungary, Balázs Kormos, Chamber of Agriculture Hajdú-Bihar

Legal documents

Hungarian law on biotechnology activities
Hungarian GMO Law Decree: Regulation No 1/1999. (I. 14.) FVM of the Minister of Agriculture and Regional Policy on the execution of the Act XXVII of 1998 on Gene Technology Activity on the fields of the agriculture and the food industry
Draft amendment of Act XXVII of 1998 on genetic technology (2006)
Draft Decree of the Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development on the production of genetically modified, conventional and organically grown plants grown alongside each other

2009.04.24 - Bacs-Kiskun resolution to declare as GM-free county (pdf in hungarian)

Petitions

GMO-free Regions and areas: Petition to the European Commission. Download in pdf-format  doc-format

Other background information

Moratorium and Coexistence Legislation Update HUNGARY, October 13, 2006 -- On September 18, the Regulatory Committee of the DG Environment of the European Union voted against removing Hungary's moratorium on genetically modified corn variety imports. Meanwhile, the Government of Hungary is actively defending its moratorium because of lacking coexistence legislation to regulate the simultaneous production of conventional, organic, and biotech crops. Relevant committees of the Hungarian parliament have discussed a draft coexistence regulation with general parliamentary debate on this legislation to begin on October 16. Read This Report
Letter to the Hungarian Ministries to hold their positions against GMOs
Database of the GMOs emitted in Hungary
Civil Society and GMO Policy in Eastern Europe, Sebastian Striegel, Germany, Diploma thesis written at freie universität Berlin
Hungary bans a Monsanto GMO maize seed (Reuters)
Draft article on the Hungarian Co-existence Law - Veronika Móra, Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation
US Department of Agriculture: Annunal Agricultural Biotech Report