At its 178th session, held on 13 November 2019, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the proposal of the Food Safety Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted the Decision appointing the members of the Council for Genetically Modified Organisms. The GM Council shall perform the following tasks:
- give opinions on the use of GM in administrative procedures and other procedures at the request of the competent authorities,
- gives opinions and suggestions in the preparation of regulations on the use of GM,
- provide opinions and proposals to the competent authorities on issues related to the use of GM,
- monitor the state and development of genetic technology and the use of GM,
- monitors scientific and professional developments and gives opinions regarding the use of genetic technology and the use of GM,
- give opinions regarding social, ethical, technical and technological, scientific and other conditions of use of GM,
- advise the competent authorities on issues related to the use of GM and genetic technology,
- informs the public through the media and expert meetings about the state and development in the field of the use of genetic technology and the use of GM, as well as their views and opinions,
- performs other professional tasks prescribed by the Law on Genetically Modified Organisms (“Official Gazette of B&H”, No. 23/09) and regulations adopted thereunder.
In a previous convocation, the GMO Council made a significant contribution in the period from 2015 to 2018 in amending the regulations in the field of GM and in regulating the authorization of laboratories to test, control and monitor genetically modified organisms and products consisting, containing or containing come from genetically modified organisms. In order to inform the scientific, professional and general public, the previous convocation of the GM Council prepared the monograph “Genetically Modified Organisms – Status and Perspectives”, which was published by the Food Safety Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and promoted in Mostar, Banja Luka and Sarajevo.
