Hungary

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)

Updates + Overviews

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

Hungary could be first in EU to introduce new GMO regulations (May 11, 2015)
“Hungary could be the first to introduce the new European Union regulations allowing countries to ban the cultivation of GMO crops”, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Deputy State Secretary for Environmental Affairs told Hungarian news agency MTI in Berlin.
Read more on the Hungarian Government Website.

THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF HUNGARY (25 April 2011)
Article XX
(1) Everyone shall have the right to physical and mental health.
(2) Hungary shall promote the effective application of the right referred to in Paragraph (1) by an agriculture free of genetically modified organisms, by ensuring access to healthy food and drinking water, by organising safety at work and healthcare provision, by supporting sports and regular physical exercise, as well as by ensuring the protection of the environment.

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National: In January 2005, Hungary banned the cultivation of Monsanto’s maize MON 810. In 2010, Hungary also banned the BASF´s Amflora potato, and filed a suit at the European Court of Justice against its approval. In December 2013, the European Court of Justice ruled against the Commission and annulled the authorization of Amflora potato.

Regional: Since 2005, there have been two regions in Hungary declared as GMO-free: Southern Transdanubia and Western Transdanubia. 5 counties are GMO-free: Győr-Moson Sopron, Fejér, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Hajdú-Bihar and Bács-Kiskun, one of the biggest grain producing county in Hungary.

Local: There are 88 GMO-free 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. The Galga-menti small region, composed of 18 municipalities has also declared GMO-free.

(Updated June 2014) Information provided by FIDRICH Robert (Fidusz) at MTVSZ/FOE Hungary 

 

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

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

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