The Regulatory Framework for the Authorisation to Produce and Market Cultured Meat in the EU Legal Issues and Political Choices

Although the European Union has never explicitly regulated so-called ‘cultivated meat’, the belief held by numerous Member States regarding the possibility of unilaterally enacting laws that prohibit its production and trade at the national level is unfounded. In fact, the regulation on so-called ‘novel foods’ provides a sufficient legal basis to consider the matter harmonised at the European level, albeit in a formally ‘procedural’ manner only. Furthermore, the justification for the need for preventive measures on a precautionary basis does not find solid support in European Union law and is, therefore, not suitable to support national legislative initiatives on this matter. This article analyses the reasons for the above, offering a reconstruction of the regulatory framework on cultivated meat from the necessary European perspective.