Milestones 2002 A proposal for the NRP 59 is made during the review for national research programmes 2002/2003 of the State Secretariat for Education and Research’s (SER) June 2003 The SER makes a programme proposal to the Swiss National Science Foundation (NSF) with the title “Benefits and Risks of the Deliberate Release of Genetically Modified Plants (GMP)” and requests a feasibility study March 2004 Evaluation and approval of the feasibility by the National Research Council. The feasibility study is handed over to the SER 15 December 2004 The SER mandates the NSF to draw up an outline proposal August 2005 Approval of the proposal by the National Research Council 2 December 2005 Federal Council agrees to NRP 59 January 2006 Constitution of the Steering Committee by the National Research Council March 2006 Drafting of the implementation plan by the Steering Committee 18 Mai 2006 Approval of the implementation plan by the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) June to August 2006 Call for pre-proposals 31 August 2006 Deadline for the submission of pre-proposals 24 January 2007 Deadline for submission of the full proposals 8 May 2007 National Research Council approves the full proposals June 2007 Start of research 2009 Intermediary report to the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) June 2012 End of NRP 59