Poland

International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside - Anti-GMO Campaign (Polish and English):
In July 2004 the board of International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside - ICPPC decided to launch a national campaign "STOP GMO IN POLAND - GMO Free Zone" to highlight the dangers of GMOs for the Polish countryside and to press for as many areas of Poland as possible to be declared GMO free zones. History of ICPPC and GMO-free zones in Poland (English)
Greenpeace Poland (Polish)
Społeczny Instytut Ekologiczny (SIE) (Polish)
Coalition GMO-free-Poland (Polish):
In response to renewed corporate attempts to undermine Poland's status as a Country Free from GMO, ICPPC has taken the initiative of launching a new body "The Coalition for a GMO Free Poland." The new body, made up of a broad cross section of society, will specifically counteract attempts to force GMO onto Polish fields and stongly put forward arguments for maintaining the current ban on GM seeds and the import ban of GM animal feeds due to take effect in the summer of 2008.
At a packed meeting in Krakow, on Saturday 1st December, the new organisation was born. Farmers, academics, environmental activists, consumer representatives, shopkeepers and politicians have pledged their support by joining the Coalition, which has put forward a strong pro ecological/no to GMO action plan for the coming year.
By catalysing fresh input from a wide range of concerned citizens and organisations we will be spreading the responsibility for keeping Poland GMO Free more widely and sharing the torch with other committed activists. As of to-day, 3rd December, more than 50 organisations plus VIP's have already signed up to the Coalition for a GMO Free Poland - and we anticipate many more.
One of the first acts of the new Coalition will be to press the new Polish government to resist any attempts to sell out to the GM corporate lobby or capitulate under European Commission demands to cease the current bans.
In February 2009 "The Coalition for a GMO Free Poland" have 260 members (organizations and specialists)

Ministry of the Environment
Polish Biosafety Clearing-House

Lucern, April 2009
Paweł Połanecki, Coalition GMO-Free
Presentation: Quest for GMO-free Poland (pdf, 245 KB, English)

"Genes Are not For Sale", Krakow International Summit: October 2008

Pictures of the Conference
Genetically modified Seeds - Global Threat to Farmer Independence by Julian Rose (English)

Traditional Seeds - Our heritage and National treasure, Traditional and ecological agriculture instead of GMO, Belweder, May 2008: Conference and Protest

Contents in English       Brochure in Polish

European Conference on GMO-free Regions, biodiversity & rural development, Berlin, January 2005

Presentation International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside – ICPPC, Jadwiga Lopata ICPPC

- The Act of 22 June 2001 on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
- The regulation of the Environment Ministry of 8 July 2002 setting out how risk assessment should be conducted. This includes the assessment of risks to human health and the environment stemming from activities involving the contained use of GMOs, the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment, the placing of GMO products on the market, and the requirements which should be satisfied by the documentation containing the results of such an assessment
- The regulation of the Environment Ministry of 29 November 2002 laying down the list of pathogenic organisms and their classification, and measures required for their particular containment levels
- The regulation of the Environment Ministry of 6 June 2002 laying down the formats of application forms for consent and authorisation of activities involving GMOs
- The regulation of the Environment Ministry of 21 February 2002 laying down the detailed rules of procedure for the Commission on Genetically Modified Organisms
- The regulation of the Ministry of Finance on 19 April 2002 laying down the list of Customs Offices suitable to import and export GMO products
- The regulation of the Ministry of Health of 2 January 2003 laying down the procedures regarding the new food.
More about the Polish legislation (English)

The 2006 Feed legislation ordered a ban on biotech feeds to be created after August 2008. However, July 27, 2008, just two weeks before a ban would have gone into effect, Poland's president signed a law pushing back the introduction of a ban to end of 2012. The GM feed ban was defeated by a coalition of Polish and U.S. trade associations, led by the American Soybean Association, Polish importers, feed manufacturers, meat producers, and diplomatic representations including the Governments of the United States, Argentina, and Canada.
International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside - ICPPC's reaction concerning the new act postponing the introduction of the act prohibiting import of GM animal feed

In 2006, Poland also introduced Seed legislation prohibiting registration and sale of biotechnology crops in Poland. The EC criticized this legislation that it did not provide any new scientific justification explaining the ban. After the EC announced it would launch a legal action against Poland at the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, the Minister of Agriculture, Sawicki has confirmed that the government will start to change feed and seed legislation to make it compliant with EU law.

Bawiąc się w Pana Boga. Manipulowana genetycznie żywność w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej, Iza Kruszewska
Participants' Declaration at the conference "GMO Free Poland: Ethical Aspects of Attempts to Introduce GMOs into Polish Agriculture" organized by the GMO-FREE POLAND COALITION, Jasna Góra, April 24, 2008
The Battle to Save the Polish Countryside, ISIS Press Release, May 2008
Civil Society and GMO Policy in Eastern Europe, Sebastian Striegel, Germany, Diploma thesis written at freie universität Berlin
US Department of Agriculture: Poland biotech annual (2008)
US Department of Agriculture: Outcome of U.S. Biotechnology Seminars in Poland (April, 2006)
US Department of Agriculture: Poland Bans the Sale and Registration of Biotech Seeds (April, 2006)
Opinion poll done by PBS in Poland about the acceptance of GMOs in food
Background information on the situation in Poland
Letter of the chairman of the Malopolska Provincial board, giving support to the iniciatives for a GMO-free Poland (translation in English)
Glossary of Agri-Environmental Terms Polish-English, English-Polish
GMO and non GM coexistance implications in Poland as a New Member State of EU by Sylwia Żakowska-Biemans & Mariusz Maciejczak, Co-existence between GM and non GM bases agricultural supply chains Conference, 2005 (English)