Editing Precautionary principle (section)

====European Union====
On 2 February 2000, the [[European Commission]] issued a Communication on the precautionary principle,<ref name=EU-Comm-PP/> in which it adopted a procedure for the application of this concept, but without giving a detailed definition of it. Paragraph 2 of article 191 of the [[Lisbon Treaty]] states that:

{{blockquote|Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union. It shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay.<ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C:2016:202:FULL&from=EN Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union] article 191, paragraph 2</ref>}}

After the adoption of the European Commission's communication on the precautionary principle, the principle has come to inform much EU policy, including areas beyond [[environmental policy]]. As of 2006 it had been integrated into EU laws "in matters such as general product safety, the use of additives for use in animal nutrition, the incineration of waste, and the regulation of genetically modified organisms".<ref name=Recuerda>{{cite journal |author=Recuerda, Miguel A. |title=Risk and Reason in the European Union Law |journal=European Food and Feed Law Review |volume=5 |year=2006 }}</ref>{{rp|282–83}} Through its application in [[case law]], it has become a "general principle of EU law".<ref name=Recuerda/>{{rp|283}}

In Case T-74/00 ''Artegodan'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62000TJ0074|title=EUR-Lex - 62000TJ0074 - EN - EUR-Lex|website=eur-lex.europa.eu}}</ref> the [[General Court (European Union)|General Court]] (then Court of First Instance) appeared willing to extrapolate from the limited provision for the precautionary principle in [[environmental policy]] in article 191(2) [[TFEU]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:12008E191|title=EUR-Lex - 12008E191 - EN - EUR-Lex|website=eur-lex.europa.eu}}</ref> to a general principle of EU law.<ref>{{Cite book| last1 = Craig| first1 = Paul| last2=de Búrca|first2 = Gráinne |title = EU law: text, cases, and materials| publisher = Oxford University Press| edition = sixth| year = 2015| pages = 112–113 | isbn = 978-0-19-871492-7}}</ref>