Croatia
This links to a page with GENET-news from Croatia that are relevant for the development of GMO-free zones.
Organisations and institutions active on GMO
Official and institutional links
- Ministry of Health (Croatian)
- Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (Croatian)
- Ministry of Agriculture (Croatian)
- Ministry of Science and Education (Croatian and English)
- Development on National Biosafety Frameworks for Republic of Croatia (English and Croatian)
Updates + Overviews
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GMO-free Counties in the Republic of Croatia
All 21 counties in the Republic of Croatia made a decision to be GMO-free.
Declaration, decision and/or conclusion of each County Council on promulgating the county as GMO-free zone are available only as Croatian text.
Legal documents
Regulation on GMOs
Act on Genetically Modified Organisms
Food Act
Draft National Biosafety Framework
The Croatian Parliament has adopted several laws regulating GMOs. These new laws, which are in some aspects stricter than EU law, are highly important since they can set a precedent for making GMO laws in the Balkans and in other (non-EU) parts of Central and Eastern Europe, where the regulation of GMOs is currently very weak or completely lacking. The Croatian laws entered into force in spite of pressure by the US, which in 2001 threatened Croatia with WTO action if it went ahead with its restrictive policies on GMOs.
A new law on GMOs came into force during 2005, which has many positive points, such as banning the release of GMOs in protected areas and their buffer zones, in areas of organic farming and in areas that are of importance to ecotourism. This provides a legal tool for counties to effectively declare themslves GMO-free. The law provides no labelling threshold but this has been set at 0.9% for food and 0% for seeds by means of a separate government regulation. The weak points of the law are the poorly-defined public participation provisions and the fact that the labelling threshold is not included in the law but could be changed at the whim of the health Minister with no public or parliamentary discussion. To date, in Croatia no permits have been granted for the deliberate release of GMOs - either for field trials or commercial cultivation, and no food or feed products containing GMOs have been approved.
