Article 16
Criteria and information for specified GMOs 1. A competent authority, or the Commission on its own initiative, may make a proposal on criteria and information requirements to be met for the notification, by way of derogation from Article 13, for the placing on the market of certain types of GMOs as or in products. 2. These criteria and information requirements as well as any appropriate requirements for a summary shall be adopted, after consultation of the relevant Scientific Committee(s), in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2). The criteria and the information requirements shall be such as to ensure a high level of safety to human health and the environment and be based on the scientific evidence available on such safety and on the experience gained from the release of comparable GMOs. The requirements set out in Article 13(2) shall be replaced by those adopted above, and the procedure set out in Article 13(3), (4), (5) and (6) and Articles 14 and 15 shall apply. 3. Before the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) for a decision on criteria and information requirements referred to in paragraph 1 is initiated, the Commission shall make the proposal available to the public. The public may make comments to the Commission within 60 days. The Commission shall forward any such comments, together with an analysis, to the Committee set up pursuant to Article 30.