Vienna, Austria
June 20, 2013

USDA/FAS GAIN report AU 1304

Highlights

Austria continues to be one of the leading forces in Europe opposed to the use of agricultural biotechnology. Biotechnology precautionary bills and biotech-free zones have been established in all nine of Austria’s federal states. All major political parties have enshrined anti-biotech policies. At the EU level, Austria favors proposed member-state “opt out” measures for biotech approvals, promotes the use of socio-economic criteria in the regulatory approval process, and habitually votes against EU regulatory approval for new biotech crop varieties. NGOs and farmer organizations, the food-processing sector, and the retail sector all have marketing campaigns promoting GMO-free foods. Austria is promoting the local production of non-biotech soybeans in the Danube region.

Full report

Website: http://www.fas.usda.gov/

Published: July 29, 2013