Councils to consider prohibiting commercial outdoor uses of GMOs in Northland and Auckland and requiring consents for outdoor field trials

An inter-council working party, representing all local authorities in Northland and Auckland, has recommended to member councils that they consider regulating the outdoor use of GMOs under the Resource Management Act through provisions in their planning documents. This would involve inserting objectives, policies and rules in existing district plans in Northland and in Auckland Council’s new Unitary Plan prohibiting the release of genetically modified organisms to the environment and making field trialing of GMOs a discretionary activity, subject to strict liability conditions for any environmental or economic harm that may eventuate.