French Agricultural Minister Bruno Le Maire imposed Friday a temporary ban on a genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto "to protect the environment". The French agriculture ministry said in a statement that the Monsanto maize strain MON 810 had been banned as a "precautionary measure". France's top administrative court in November overturned a government order banning French farmers from planting genetically modified crops from Monsanto. However, President Nicolas Sarkozy swiftly pledged to seek new legal measures after the French ruling as well as a similar decision by the European Court of Justice.

U.S. biotech firm Monsanto said on Tuesday it does not plan to sell its genetically modified maize MON810 in France this year, nor after, even though the country’s highest court overturned a 3-year ban in November. “Monsanto considers that favorable conditions for the sale of the MON810 in France in 2012 and beyond are not in place,” the company said in a statement, adding that it had told the French authorities about its intentions.

The French government said on Friday it would uphold its ban on a strain of genetically modified maize developed by U.S. biotech firm Monsanto in 2012, even though France’s highest court overturned the moratorium last year. The ecology and agriculture ministers said in a statement they would maintain the ban on MON810, an insect-resistant strain of maize which is sold in several European countries, after meeting with farming groups.

France’s highest court on Monday overturned France’s ban on growing a strain of genetically modified maize (corn) developed by U.S. biotech firm Monsanto, saying it was not sufficiently justified. The decision follows a ruling by the European Court of Justice in early September saying France had based its decision to impose a moratorium on the growing of Monsanto’s insect-resistant MON810 maize on the wrong EU legislation. Suspension or banning measures ought to be taken at European Union level unless a member state can demonstrate a potentially serious risk to human or animal health or the environment, the courts said.

A growing number of European countries are challenging the European Commission’s decision to authorise the cultivation of BASF’s antibiotic-resistance genetically modified (GM) potato, said Greenpeace. France and Poland have announced that they are joining Hungary, Austria and Luxembourg in a legal challenge to the European Court of Justice.

The EU’s highest legal body, the European Court of Justice, has ruled that the public must have access to information about location of genetically modified crops. It’s the latest decision on a very controversial issue. [...] ”The right of public access to information applies to releases of genetically modified organisms,” the ECJ said in its decision. ”The information relating to the location of the release can in no case be kept confidential.”

The European Union's highest court fined France 10 million euros ($12.9 million) on Tuesday for failing to update the country's laws on genetically modified (GM) crops and foods.

EU envrionment ministers continued to disagree on whether member states should be allowed to establish GMO-free zones for sensitive areas, although they did concur on the need for better long-term environmental risk assessment of GMOs. Following a number of informal discussions earlier this summer, the EU-27 environment ministers debated the bloc’s GMO authorisation procedure in a Council meeting on 20 October. But member states clashed on the issues of protecting sensitive and protected territories and establishing GMO-free zones.

U.S. biotech company Monsanto said on Thursday France’s decision to ban one of its genetically modified varieties of maize was illegal and would be harmful to the sector. [...] Monsanto said the committee had not turned up any scientific proof which had not already been reviewed by the EU, which had authorized use of MON 810 throughout the 27-nation bloc in 1998. ”There is no doubt that the (committee’s) opinion does not fulfill any of the criteria which would allow ... the French state to suspend the application of a legal authorization based on a rational and scientific evaluation,” Monsanto said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday announced a ban on Monsanto's MON 810 GM maize in France, the only GM maize variety presently legal to grow within the European Union. Farm activist José Bove publicly finished his hunger strike against the crop while Monsanto and the large farmers association complained.