Significance of the Genetic Engineering Emergency Ordinance for S2 plants
Dr. Petra KauchShare
It regulates the creation of off-site emergency plans and contains information, reporting, and notification obligations for operators. The AGCT has already provided information on certain aspects in the AGCT-Gentechnik.report 5/2010 . The Genetic Engineering Emergency Ordinance applies to genetic engineering facilities in which genetic engineering work at safety levels 2, 3, or 4 is carried out. However, the Genetic Engineering Emergency Ordinance contains a restriction for S2 facilities. The obligation to create off-site emergency plans (Section 3 GenTNotfV) and the obligation to provide information about off-site emergency plans (Section 4 GenTNotfV) do not apply to S2 facilities (Section 1, Sentence 2 GenTNotfV). This means, first of all, that the authority is not required to create off-site emergency plans for S2 facilities. For this reason, the operator is also not required to provide the information required for the creation of off-site emergency plans (Section 3, Paragraph 2 GenTNotfV). Section 1, sentence 2 of the GenTNotfV has a blocking effect in this respect. However, since the exemption provision of Section 1, sentence 2 of the GenTNotfV only exempts Sections 3 and 4 of the GenTNotfV for S2 facilities, the operator remains obligated to immediately inform the competent authority in the event of an accident about the circumstances of the accident, the identity and quantities of the escaped GMOs, all other information necessary for assessing the impact of the accident on the protected legal interests, and the measures taken (Section 5, paragraph 1 of the GenTNotfV).
This publication can also be found on the website of the law firm Dr. Kauch .