VIENNA (Reuters) – An Austrian law banning all uses of the weedkiller glyphosate, the first such national ban in the European Union, cannot go into force on Jan. 1 as planned because the European Commission was not properly notified, the government said on Monday.

The Commission needed to be notified of the bill, which passed by parliament in July, so that both it and member states could express their views, a letter by Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein posted online said, adding that that had not happened. Whether the law can take effect later was not immediately clear.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, editing by louise Heavens)

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