Private Law Issues About GMO Food Production and Commerce (Algunos Problemas Jurídico Privados Referentes a La Producción Y El Comercio De Alimentos Transgénicos)

Abstract

Although there is a lot of scholarly writing about GMO, it is hard to find any text about GMO private law. Legal doctrine has focused its analysis mainly in public policy issues. But the production and commerce of GMO takes place between private parties, so it generates private law problems that have to be settled. This article deals with the solutions given by courts to specific problems created between private parties during the production and distribution of GMO. It also explains how the different GMO public policy approaches of different countries or how the change of this policy in one country affects the private relationship between seller and buyer in an international contract of sale of GM food and feed. We will show how the ignorance of the public health or environmental national regulations on food, feed and GMO affects the contractual relationship between seller and buyer in international sale of these commodities in favor of the seller. We conclude the convenience to spread the knowledge of certain international public standards, such as the Codex Alimentarius, in order to balance the positions of international sellers and buyers.