Today, scientific and technological advancements, while bringing various advantages on one hand, have also led to the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (‘’GMOs’’) into our lives on the other. In response to this issue, the Biosafety Law was enacted by the legislature to eliminate health risks and biological pollution that may be caused by GMOs, which are among the adverse effects of developments in gene technology.
The Biosafety Law directly affects numerous companies, particularly those operating in the food sector. Companies are obliged to ensure compliance with this law throughout the entire process, from raw materials to the final products. Offenses and sanctions regarding GMOs and their products are primarily established by the Biosafety Law and the regulations governing its implementation. Actions contrary to the prohibitions set forth in the Law and the relevant Regulation constitute the “Crime of Contradiction to the Biosafety Law.” In the event of such a violation, sanctions are provided not only for the legal entities of the companies that import, sell, or distribute the product in question but also separately for the natural persons serving as executives of these companies.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (“The Ministry”) is the primary competent and regulatory authority regarding GMOs under the Biosafety Law and related legislation. It inspects both food enterprises as producers and sellers, as well as authorized and accredited laboratories that perform GMO analyses. Since Turkey maintains a “zero tolerance” policy for GMOs in food, even at trace levels, any detection of GMOs in a product carries the potential to constitute a crime as a rule. Consequently, the Ministry imposes administrative sanctions and simultaneously initiates the criminal sanction process by filing a criminal complaint with the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
LEGİSLATİVE FRAMEWORK
Article 15 of the Biosafety Law specifies acts considered crimes in four paragraphs. Accordingly, the following actions are prohibited:
- Importing, producing, or releasing GMOs and their products into the environment in violation of the provisions of this Law;
- Using imported or processed GMOs or GMO products for purposes or areas other than those specified in the import permit, offering them for sale, selling, transferring, or knowingly purchasing, accepting, transporting, or possessing them for commercial purposes;
- Using products obtained from imported or processed GMOs for purposes or areas other than those specified in the import permit, offering them for sale, selling, transferring, or knowingly purchasing, accepting, transporting, or possessing them for commercial purposes;
- For a person who has obtained an import or processing permit through false statements, to import, process, use, offer for sale, sell, transfer, accept, transport, or possess GMOs, GMO products, or products obtained from GMOs based on said permit.
In accordance with the “zero tolerance principle” in the Biosafety Law, the detection of the presence of a GMO is considered sufficient for the occurrence of the relevant crime. Since no GMO threshold is provided under the Law, any presence of GMOs—even in trace amounts established through technical analysis—results in a direct violation. At this point, it must be noted that for these prison sentences to arise, the crimes must be committed with intent, meaning knowingly and willfully; acts committed through negligence or mere carelessness are not subject to imprisonment.
ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND SECURITY MEASURES
Pursuant to the relevant legislative provisions, every stage of the market circulation process of GMOs and substances produced from them requires surveillance and inspection. In this context, companies are obliged to notify the Ministry, maintain necessary records, comply with labeling rules, and store these documents for twenty years from the product’s entry into the country until its distribution. The fundamental objective of the Law is to ensure backward traceability to determine the origin of raw materials and the processes involved when a potential risk is identified.
Failure by a company to present records and documents (traceability records) that retrospectively reveal the product’s origin, supply chain, and production process during inspections is considered a direct traceability violation. In other words, even if no GMO is detected in the product through laboratory analysis, the mere absence of these records may cause the company to face heavy administrative fines. Under the legislation, a graduated penalty system is provided for companies in case of violations of obligations such as record-keeping and notification. While a lower administrative fine is imposed for traceability deficiencies, the penalty amount reaches much higher levels if it is understood that the deficiency was intended to provide an unfair advantage to the company. The penalty amounts provided in the Law are not fixed and increase annually according to the revaluation rate.
In addition to financial sanctions, security measures that may directly affect the commercial future of companies are also applicable. For instance, measures such as withdrawing products found to be in violation from the supply chain, their collection and destruction, or the total cancellation of the company’s operating license in that specific field may be taken.
PENAL SANCTIONS
The value protected by the Biosafety Law is public health. Therefore, the law includes highly deterrent and severe sanctions against actions that endanger public health. Violating legal regulations regarding GMOs and their products is not limited to administrative sanctions but also exposes company officials directly to the threat of imprisonment. Individuals who import, produce, or release GMOs into the environment in violation of the Biosafety Law may be sentenced to imprisonment from five to twelve years.
Similarly, the use of GMOs that have entered the country legally for purposes other than those specified, or making them the subject of trade, is subject to imprisonment from four to nine years. Furthermore, even the unauthorized circulation or use of secondary products obtained from these GMOs can lead to sentences involving deprivation of liberty from three to seven years. In addition to these prison sentences, high amounts of judicial fines are applied depending on the nature of the violation. Current legislation in our country keeps not only the raw form of GMOs but also all processed derivatives and every kind of commercial activity in this process under strict supervision, defining any action that breaks this chain as a crime requiring imprisonment.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, for all companies operating in Turkey, especially in the food sector, it is a legal necessity rather than a choice to be fully aware of and comply with the obligations arising from the Biosafety Law. Considering the zero-tolerance regime applied to GMOs and the technical level reached by inspections, it is of great importance for companies to be prepared for potential risks. To protect companies from high fines and to eliminate the personal criminal risks of their executives, it is essential for companies to establish internal compliance mechanisms, construct traceability systems meticulously, and prioritize legal compliance processes.
Attorney At Law Didem Özgün