Judgment of the Justice Court (Grand Chamber), of February 7, 2023, which resolves the question referred for a preliminary ruling in relation to the interpretation of article 3,section 1, and annex I B, point 1, of Directive 2001/18/EC, on the intentional release into the environment of genetically modified organisms

The question referred for a preliminary ruling arises within a dispute between several environmental associations, including a French agricultural union, and the French Government, through which the appellants request the Council of State to annul the tacit decision of the Prime Minister by which he denied the request to repeal article D. 531-2 of the Environmental Code, which transposed Directive 2001/18, which excludes mutagenesis as a technique that gives rise to a genetic modification, and, secondly, so that the cultivation and marketing of herbicide-tolerant rapeseed varieties obtained through mutagenesis should be prohibited, and, on the other hand, that it require the prime minister, under penalty of a periodic penalty, to take all necessary measures to establish a moratorium on herbicide tolerant plant varieties obtained by mutagenesis.