Environmental Protection Responsibility Ordinance – ZustVU NRW

For anyone wanting to navigate the maze of responsibilities at state authorities, the LAG-Gentechnik.de website offers valuable assistance. There, in the left-hand block under "Documents," information on responsibilities can be found, organized by federal state.
For North Rhine-Westphalia, the Environmental Protection Responsibility Ordinance (ZustVU) of December 11, 2007, as of June 9, 2009, is posted there. The Environmental Protection Responsibility Ordinance regulates responsibilities for genetic engineering under Section 4. In the laboratory sector, the Düsseldorf District Government is solely responsible for approvals (4.1), while monitoring is carried out by the respective district government (4.2). In addition, the Ministry is responsible for initiating the development of the evidence required for sample testing (40.1) and for informing the authorities in an emergency (41.1.1). In the case of releases or placing on the market, the Ministry is responsible for issuing an internal statement in the approval procedure (40.2) and, alongside the district government, for informing the public about the results of the monitoring of the placing on the market (40.5). The district government is responsible for monitoring seeds placed on the market (40.3) and monitoring good professional practice in the cultivation of genetically modified plants (40.4). Districts or independent cities provide environmentally relevant information to producers or managers (41.2.1)

This publication can also be found on the website of the law firm Dr. Kauch .