In March 2015, the co-legislators adopted new EU rules allowing Member States to prohibit or restrict the cultivation of crops containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their territory, even if they are allowed at EU level.

Under the old rules (Directive 2001/18/EC), Member States could provisionally ban or restrict the use of a GMO on their territory only if they had new evidence that the organism concerned constituted a risk to human health or the environment, or in the case of an emergency.