(ANSA-AP) - VIENNA, 09 DEC - An Austrian ban on the weedkiller glyphosate, a substance that has long been disputed in Europe and beyond, can't take effect on Jan. 1 as supporters hoped, the government said Monday. The country's lawmakers voted in July to ban the herbicide, best known as an ingredient in Roundup. But interim Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein informed the parliament's speaker Monday that she won't promulgate the legislation because of a legal technicality. Bierlein said that European Union regulations required the EU's executive commission to be notified of the draft law, but that didn't happen. She stressed that her decision not to put the law into effect stemmed only from legal issues and didn't imply an opinion on the glyphosate ban itself.

It wasn't immediately clear what will happen now with the plan to outlaw the substance. (ANSA-AP).