The legal officers Olivia Bömeke and Jens Kahrmann and the scientific officer Dr. Georg Leggewie all work for the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), which is the competent authority within the meaning of Directive 2001/18/EC. The authors would like to thank the current head of department Prof. Dr. Detlef Bartsch, his predecessor Dr. Hans-Jörg Buhk and Dr. Louise Ball (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom) for their valuable input.