Baseline information on agricultural practices in the EU ... - Europabio

1 Introduction
Under the current European legislations for the commercial cultivation of Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs) in the EU it is required to assess the potential environmental impacts of GM
plants, including the assessment of potential environmental impacts of specific cultivation and
management of such plants. This assessment is explained in environmental risk assessment (ERA)
guidance documents, including those developed by the Panel on GMOs of the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA).
With this project, EuropaBio aimed to collect and structure the dataset on agronomic practices for
maize in Europe. Within the definition of the project, the study is expected to cover:
• cultivation practices with special attention to those practices that can dominate in the future;
• cultivation practices across EU Member States organized by different geographical regions where
the GM crop is likely to be cultivated;
• aspects related to characteristics of the plant and the production systems into which it will be
introduced; and
• <strong>information</strong> that will help applicants to address the requirements laid out in Section D.2.9 of Annex
II of Directive 2001/18/EC.
Similar studies are conducted for other crops.
This study provides applicants with a common baseline for performing the ERA of the cultivation
practice associated with the specific GM plant.
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