Biowatch will be arguing for leave to appeal and appealing the costs orders against the organisation at the South African Constitutional Court on Tuesday, 17 February 2009. The Centre for Child Law and Lawyers for Human Rights are the amici curiae for the appeal which should be the final step in a long legal wrangle over gaining access to information pertaining to the release of Genetically Modified Organisms into the South African food production system and the environment. We invite as many of our friends and supporters as are able to attend the hearings in Johannesburg.

• The legal wrangle began in 2003 when Biowatch applied to the Pretoria High Court for an order that the Minister of Agriculture and the Registrar for Genetic Resources provide information on the basis for granting permits for genetically modified crops in SA.
• Monsanto SA, a producer of genetically modified seeds, joined the court proceedings to oppose the application by Biowatch.
• The case was heard by acting Judge Dunn who ruled that Biowatch should be given access to eight of the eleven categories listed in its request to the government departments. He stated that Biowatch had a constitutional right to the information it requested, that access to the information was in the public interest and that Biowatch had been forced to go to court to get access to the information.
• However, he supported Monsanto's argument that Biowatch had cast its requests so widely that Monsanto was forced to go to court to protect its commercial, confidential interests. Judge Dunn ordered Biowatch to pay Monsanto's legal costs.
• Biowatch appealed against the costs order, arguing that the awarding of a costs order against a non-governmental organisation could have a deterrent effect on future public-interest litigation.
• The appeal was dismissed by Judges Fanie Mynhardt and Molopo-Sethosa. However, Judge Justice Poswa, in a minority, dissenting judgment, stated that he would have ordered the Department of Agriculture and Monsanto to pay all Biowatch's legal costs.
• In September 2008, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Biowatch's application for leave to appeal against the high court order with costs.