Abstract
In 1990, Germany introduced a special legal regime for GMOs, the so-called Gentechnikgesetz, which was subsequently amended on several occasions.1 It contains the general legal framework for the development, production or use of GMOs. Like most other German statutes dealing with dangerous objects and/ or activities, the Gentechnikgesetz thereby establishes a strict form of delictual liability (so-called Gefährdungshaftung).2 These rules, however, only apply to a limited number of facilities in which GMOs are developed, produced, multiplied, stored, destroyed or moved within the physical confines of a given research or special production site3 as well as any other activities for which a permission to circulate particular GMOs for the general use by others has not yet been granted.4 Crucial to the understanding of the current situation in Germany is thus the distinction between, on the one hand, GMOs which can potentially contaminate other crops but are nevertheless used or handled on the basis of such a general permission (so-called Umgang5) and, on the other, those for which such a permit has not been issued or which are put in only limited circulation and without permission to make offspring or reproductive material such as seed available to others.6 Only the second group of facilities or activities, which have in common the fact that the GMOs are still isolated from wider circulation, are subject to the strict liability regime of the GenTG and this mainly covers laboratories conducting research and development within closed facilities, including the sites on which GM crops are tested (so-called Freisetzungen), but also individuals or companies who for the first time put GMOs into circulation on the basis of a limited permit which does not allow them to be made available to others for (re)productive purposes.7.
§§ 32 ff. GenTG.
So-called gentechnische Anlage.
See § 2 GenTG. §§ 7 ff. GenTG establish the requirement of a permit for facilities of this kind. §§ 14 ff. GenTG establish the requirement of a permit to set free or market particular GMOs.
§ 3 no. 6a GenTG.
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References
Gentechnikgesetz (GenTG) of 20 June 1990, Bundesgesetzblatt (BGB1) I 1990, 1080 ff. Major amendments occurred in December 1993 (BGB1 I 1993, 2066 ff.), December 2004 (BGB1 I 2005, 186 ff.) and March 2006 (BGB1 I 2006, 534 ff.).
So-called erstmaliges Inverkehrbringen. W. Lülling/ G. Landsberg, in: W. Eberbach/ P. Lange/ M. Ronellenfitsch, Recht der Gentechnik und Biomedizin (44. Ergänzungslieferung 06/2004) § 32 GenTG, no. 55.
R. Müller-Terpitz, Genrapsbauer wider Willen, Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht 2001, 46 (48); T. Linke, Nochmals: Zufallsauskreuzungen und Gentechnikgesetz, Natur und Recht 2003, 154(157).
Gesetz zur Neuordnung des Gentechnikrechts (GentechnikneuordG) of 21 December 2004, BGB1 2005 I 186 ff.
BGH Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 1978, 2032.
See, e.g., BGH Versicherungsrecht (VersR) 1963, 874; BGH VersR 1967, 1080; BGH VersR 1971, 1018.
Drucksachen des Deutschen Bundesrates (BR-Drs) 131/04 of 2. 4. 2004.
See the Coalition Agreement (Koalitionsvertrag) of 11. 11. 2005, no. 8.9.
See the Eckpunkte-paper of the Federal Ministry of Health of June 2006.
Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofes in Zivilsachen (BGHZ) 90, 255 ff.; 92, 148 ff.; O. Jauernig, in: O. Jauernig (ed.), Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (11th ed. 2004) § 906 no. 8.
BGHZ 117, 110 ff.; O. Jauernig (supra fn. 47) no. 47.
O. Jauernig (supra fn. 47) no. 47, § 906 no. 9. These general rules also apply to non-licensed GMOs (in addition to the special liability regime of the Gentechnikgesetz), see § 37(3) GenTG.
E.g., as ‘ecological’ within the meaning of EEC Council Directive 2092/91 of 24. 6. 1991 (see the explanatory memorandum of the amendment to the GenTG, BT-Drs 15/3088, 31). See § 36a(1) no. 3 GenTG. See also the standards required by the Verordnung zur Durchführung gemeinschaftsrechtlicher Vorschriften über neuartige Lebensmittel und Lebensmittelzutaten (NLV) of 29. 2. 2000.
Eckpunkte-paper of June 2006.
T. Dolde, Gesetz zur Neuordnung des Gentechnikrechts, Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik 1/2005, 25 (27).
BGH NJW 1978, 2032.
Eckpunkte- paper of June 2006.
T. Dolde (Gesetz zur Neuordnung des Gentechnikrechts, Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik 1/2005, 25 supra fn. 67 (27).
See the comments in the Eckpunkte- paper of the Federal Ministry of Health of June 2006; Ge-samtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V., Sind Risiken der Gentechnik durch Versicherung abzudecken? (25. 8. 2004).
BGH NJW 1964, 2012; BGH NJW 1981, 1606; A. Heldrich, in: Palandt, Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (65th ed. 2006), Einführungsgesetz in das Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (EGBGB) 38 (IPR), no. 21.
A. Heldrich (supra fn. 78) no. 21.
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Fedtke, J. (2008). Economic Loss Caused by GMOs in Germany. In: Koch, B.A. (eds) Economic Loss Caused by Genetically Modified Organisms. Tort and Insurance Law, vol 24. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77988-0_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77988-0_14
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