Emergency Plan

The pre-requisite of the contained use of GMOs shall be drawing up of an emergency plan by the GMO user in case of failure resulting in the uncontrolled distribution of GMO which would, directly or with delay, endanger human health or the environment.

The emergency plan should comply with the activity category and include in particular:

1. information on safety measures to be applied by the exposed persons in case of an emergency,

2. information on methods of counteracting effects of uncontrolled dissemination of GMOs including information on activities to be undertaken by rescue teams operating within the national rescue and fire-fighting system.

The GMO user shall provide the emergency plan to commune authorities, which within 7 days of the day the plan is received, shall make it available to the public in the manner as usually practised at the seat of the commune.

The GMO user shall be obliged to undertake necessary steps to ensure the persons who could be directly exposed to uncontrolled dissemination of GMOs with the emergency plan.

In case of contained use of GMOs within hazard category III or IV, the GMO user shall be obliged to agree the emergency plan with the competent voivode.

Voivode shall present, by means of an administrative decision, objections to the emergency plan or confirm lack of such objections within 30 days of receiving the application.

The GMO user shall be obliged to store the emergency plan at the place of the contained use of GMOs and at his own seat in a manner which ensures free access to the plan in case of emergency or other hazard.

The GMO user shall be obliged to carry out periodical verification, at least once every two years and taking into account progress of technology and knowledge, of risk assessment findings and safety measures applied including requirements for degrees and types of protection and the emergency plan.

The GMO user shall be obliged to commence verification risk assessment immediately when there are reasons to believe that safety measures applied are no longer sufficient or when there are premises that the activity should be assigned to a higher hazard category.

The GMO user shall be obliged to keep regular records and documentation of actions and to store them for a period of at least five years of the completion of the actions, as well as to make such records accessible free of charge immediately upon request of the Minister or the authority referred to in Section 19 subsection 5 of the GMO act.

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Ministerstwo Środowiska, 2005