The Government has passed the 2009 and 2010 Parliamentary Reports on gene technology activities and the strategy regarding their utilization in agriculture and food production.

The report's most important message supported is that keeping Hungary free from GMOs is an issue of national strategy.

In Hungary, it is currently illegal to cultivate seeds or other propagation materials contaminated with genetically modified organisms. The Government continues to enforce a policy of zero tolerance with regard to the GMO contamination of seeds.

In 2009, the European Commission once again attempted to lift the ban on the cultivation of MON810 genetically modified corn in Hungary. Thanks to vigorous lobbying on the part of the Head of State, the Leader of the Government, Members of the European and Hungarian Parliament, the affected Ministries, Hungarian Embassies and diplomats, and non-governmental organisations in the interests of maintaining the moratorium, we succeeded in convincing the majority of member states to support the continued ban on GM-maize in Hungary. Hungary has also imposed a moratorium on the cultivation of "Amflora" potatoes. In April of 2010, the Republic of Hungary lodged a request for legal action with the Court of Justice of the European Union, asking that the European Commission resolutions allowing the cultivation of Amflora be nullified. Hungary was joined in the legal action by Austria, Luxembourg, France and Poland. The lawsuit is still underway.

Hungary's location and climate are practically unique in Europe and are extremely well suited to agricultural production, because a clean environment means high quality, safe food. The cultivation of GMO-free agricultural seeds means a market advantage for Hungary, which is the fifth largest exporter of agricultural seeds in the world and the third largest in Europe.

The Government would like to create an environment in which people prefer to choose good quality Hungarian food, instead of foreign imports of uncertain origin. The goal is for the majority of people to consume locally produced, healthy, GMO-free food. This is also one of the reasons why the new Constitution includes the support of GMO-free agriculture.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)