PART C PLACING ON THE MARKET OF GMOs AS OR IN PRODUCTS

Article 23 Safeguard clause
1. Where a Member State, as a result of new or additional information made available since the date of the consent and affecting the environmental risk assessment or reassessment of existing information on the basis of new or additional scientific knowledge, has detailed grounds for considering that a GMO as or in a product which has been properly notified and has received written consent under this Directive constitutes a risk to human health or the environment, that Member State may provisionally restrict or prohibit the use and/or sale of that GMO as or in a product on its territory.
The Member State shall ensure that in the event of a severe risk, emergency measures, such as suspension or termination of the placing on the market, shall be applied, including information to the public.
The Member State shall immediately inform the Commission and the other Member States of actions taken under this Article and give reasons for its decision, supplying its review of the environmental risk assessment, indicating whether and how the conditions of the consent should be amended or the consent should be terminated, and, where appropriate, the new or additional information on which its decision is based.
2. Within 60 days of the date of receipt of the information transmitted by the Member State, a decision shall be taken on the measure taken by that Member State in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 30(2). For the purpose of calculating the 60-day period, any period of time during which the Commission is awaiting further information which it may have requested from the notifier or is seeking the opinion of the Scientific Committee or Committees which has or have been consulted shall not be taken into account. The period of time during which the Commission is awaiting the opinion of the Scientific Committee or Committees consulted shall not exceed 60 days.
Likewise, the period of time the Council takes to act in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 30(2) shall not be taken into account.
Substituted by Directive 2008/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 amending Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission.