Croatia will make use of new "opt-out" rules to stop GMO crop cultivation, even if varieties have been approved by the EU.
A new EU law approved in March cleared the way for new GMO crops to be approved after years of previous deadlock. But the law also gave individual countries the right to opt out by banning GMO crops even after they have been approved as safe by the European Commission.
Widely-grown in the Americas and Asia, GMO crops have divided opinion in Europe. Britain is among those in favour of them, while France and Germany are among those opposed.
Under the new EU rules, countries have until 3 October 2015 to inform the Commission that they wish to opt out of new EU GMO cultivation approvals
Spokesman for the Commission Enrico Brivio said that by Monday, 28 September, requests for banning GM cultivation arrived from Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, France, Greece and Lithuania, while Belgium asked a GMO ban for its southern region of Valonia and Great Britain asked for a GMO ban for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.