Ministry of Agriculture wins the case of genetically modified Information Disclosure

According to Xinhua News Agency, on April 7, lawyer Huang Leping v. the Ministry of Agriculture government information disclosure case was pronounced in the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate people's Court of first instance. The third Intermediate people's Court of Beijing rejected Huang Leping's claim in the first instance, and Huang Leping appealed in court.

The court held that according to the relevant provisions of Article 2 of the regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, government information should have the characteristics of authority and carrier, that is, government information should be objectively grasped by administrative organs with administrative powers. and reflect the existing information through a specific carrier.

The court held that the Ministry of Agriculture only has the administrative power to examine and approve the safety of agricultural genetically modified organisms, and does not have the authority to examine and approve the "import quantity of agricultural genetically modified organisms" applied for by Huang Leping. And Huang Leping applied for information disclosure of "the reasons why the Ministry of Agriculture did not approve the commercial cultivation of genetically modified food crops, whether it plans to carry out commercial cultivation of genetically modified food crops in China?" whether there are specific plans and contents of the plan "," measures have been taken and proposed to be taken to protect the interests of local agriculture and farmers from the impact of imported GM agricultural products. The contents such as "what figures can be explained" and "the implementation of the agricultural genetically modified organisms labeling system, what supervision work and illegal punishments have been carried out" are not objective information. it does not meet the characteristic elements of "government information" stipulated in the regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information. Therefore, the first instance rejected Huang Leping's claim.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the reason for not answering is that it belongs to the matter of government consultation, and the other is that it does not belong to the scope of government information disclosure. Government information disclosure must meet three conditions: first, information is objective; second, information belongs to government information; third, information does not need to be collected, collected, processed and analyzed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Huang Leping believes that the Ministry of Agriculture's response to "government consultation" lacks a legal basis. For information that does not exist or is uncertain, the Ministry of Agriculture shall reply in accordance with the above provisions that the information does not exist or need to apply to other departments for disclosure, and shall not refuse disclosure on the grounds that it belongs to "government consultation". Specific reasons should also be given for matters that do not belong to the disclosure of government information.

■ lawyer Huang Leping v. Ministry of Agriculture Chronicle

◎, Huang Leping, a lawyer from Beijing Yixian Law firm, sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture, applying for disclosure of relevant information and data on the import of GMOs, including the import quantity of agricultural GMOs, the commercial planting plan of agricultural GMOs, local agricultural protection measures, the implementation of the GMO labeling system, etc.

◎ on July 15, 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a letter on Huang Leping's reply to the application for government information disclosure, in which the Ministry of Agriculture made public the approved species of agricultural genetically modified organisms, label management and safety evaluation data of three kinds of genetically modified soybeans. As for other matters applying for disclosure, the Ministry of Agriculture said that it belongs to the consultation on relevant issues and does not belong to the category of government information disclosure. Huang Leping then applied to the Ministry of Agriculture for administrative reconsideration and received the "decision of the Ministry of Agriculture of the people's Republic of China rejecting the application for administrative reconsideration of GM information public" on October 17.

On November 4, ◎, Huang Leping formally filed an administrative lawsuit with the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate people's Court on the decision of the Ministry of Agriculture to reject the application for administrative reconsideration of genetically modified information.

On February 13, 2015, the administrative litigation case of Huang Leping v. the Ministry of Agriculture of genetically modified government information disclosure opened in the first instance of the third Intermediate people's Court of Beijing.

■ expert opinion

The government should do

A public directory

He Haibo, a professor at the Law School of Tsinghua University, believes that the government should make a public catalogue to let the public know which can apply for publicity, but the relevant catalogue is not perfect at present. The government should take the initiative to disclose government information, the government should release it in the form of a list, as the minimum requirement for administrative organs to disclose relevant information, and update dynamically according to the revision and improvement of laws and regulations and the needs of social development.

According to Xinhua News Agency