In 2000, the European Commission published the document “Communication on the precautionary principle,” which prescribes guidelines for applying the precautionary principle in the EU. According to this document, the precautionary principle is positioned within the framework of science-based risk analysis. It does not exempt measures based on the principle from the general principles of risk management, such as proportionality, consistency, and cost-benefit examination. Thus, the precautionary principle in the guidelines seems to be moderate and subordinate. However, the precautionary principle in some actual policies in the EU seems quite different from that described in the guidelines.

This paper analyzes two policies related to agriculture, mainly the regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which is a typical policy based on the precautionary principle in the EU.

The legislation of GMO in the EU provides for an authorization process in advance of cultivating GMOs or placing them on the market. However, the authorization process is at a stalemate. Many applications for approval are still pending even though the applicants have already received positive risk assessments from the European Food Safety Authority, because of the opposition of many of the member states against the background of public opinion.

In addition, new legislation has recently been enacted. Since April 2015, member states may choose to opt out of GMO cultivation, i.e., to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of authorized GM crops within their territory. Such opt-out measures do not need to be justified by scientific evidence on the environmental impact.

Further, this paper discusses a restriction on the use of some pesticides belonging to the neonicotinoid family, to protect bees. The restriction was adopted in the absence of sufficient scientific certainty and, further, seems to have been adopted without consideration of its various effects, such as the cost-benefit and the risk trade-off.

As shown above, at least in these two cases, the precautionary principle in the EU has been applied outside of a science-based framework, leaving the guidelines, and as a result, the policies concerned may cause conflict with the EU law and WTO law.