France was fined ?8.7 million for failing to introduce EU rules on time.


The European Court of Justice said public opposition to an EU measure
already agreed by a member state was no excuse for delays in bringing the
rules into force.

The French government dragged its feet over applying new rules on the
release into the environment of controversial genetically-modified organisms
(GMOs).

The rules are designed to ensure all EU countries follow the same general
guidelines when taking decisions on the use of GMOs.

The directive was finally in force in France in June this year - nearly six
years after it should have come into force.

The European Commission went to court in 2004 and won an order that France
must fulfil its EU obligations, but it still took four years before the
necessary legislation was introduced.

The French government said it faced "internal difficulties over the rules,
including violent demonstrations by groups opposing the cultivation of GMO
crops in open fields.

But the judges said the persistent delays were unjustified, particularly
regarding the introduction of a law designed to protect human health and the
environment by setting out common EU standards about the placing on the
market of GMOs.

The judgment warned: "France cannot rely on internal difficulties to avoid
its obligations under Community law."

The judges said that even if the French demonstrations over GMO crops could
be blamed on the impending EU rules, "a member state may not rely on
difficulties of implementation (of an EU law), including difficulties
relating to opposition on the part of certain individuals, to justify a
failure to comply with obligations and time limits set down by Community
law."
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