Malta has decided to make use of the possibility granted to Member States by the recent amendment to the Directive 2001/18/EC, through Directive (EU) 2015/412 of 11 March 2015, for the purposes of restricting and prohibiting the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the entire territory of Malta, the government said in a statement.

This will take place without affecting the risk assessment provided in the system of Union authorisations of GMOs, either in the course of the authorisation procedure or thereafter, and independently of the measures that Member States cultivating GMOs are entitled or required to take by application of Directive 2001/18/EC to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in other products. 

By deciding to opt out, Malta is contributing to the facilitating of the smooth functioning of the internal market, through the likely improvement in the process for authorisations of GMOs, as well as to the freedom of choice of consumers, farmers and operators, whilst providing greater clarity to affected stakeholders concerning the cultivation of GMOs in the Union.

Furthermore, Malta seeks to safeguard the positions it took prior to 1 April 2015, when it voted against eight cases of notifications/applications submitted to the Commission, demanding that their geographical scope be adjusted to the effect that all of the territory of Malta be excluded from cultivation of GMOs.

Therefore, Malta is seeing to ensure legal certainty and avoid creating potential distortions of competition by treating existing authorisation holders differently from future applicants for authorisation.