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BRUSSELS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - EU environment ministers slapped down on Tuesday an attempt to order Hungary to lift its ban on a genetically modified (GMO) maize type, delivering a third stinging rebuff to the European Commission.

There was a "qualified majority" of member states -- the amount needed under the EU's complex weighted voting system -- against the proposal, a Commission spokeswoman said.

Hungary, one of the EU-27's biggest grain producers, became the first country in eastern Europe to ban GMO crops or foods when it outlawed the planting of MON 810 maize seeds, marketed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto <MON.N>, in January 2005.

The decision follows a similar rejection by the ministers in December of a draft order, authored by the EU's executive Commission, for Austria to drop its bans on two separate GMO maize types. One of them was also MON 810.

Between 1997 and 2000, five EU countries banned specific GMOs on their territory, focusing on three maize and two rapeseed types approved shortly before the start of the EU's six-year moratorium on new biotech authorisations.

In June 2005, the Commission tried to get the bans scrapped. EU environment ministers rejected the proposals then as well.

In September, EU biotech experts failed to agree on the Commission's draft order concerning Hungary. Under EU law, if that happens, the matter is escalated to ministerial level.

Although at the time more EU countries voted in favour of the order to lift the national ban -- 14 countries, with five against and six abstentions -- that was not enough under the EU's weighted voting system for a consensus agreement. The European Union has long been split on GMO policy, and its member states consistently clash over whether to approve new varieties for import but without reaching a conclusion.

In Europe, consumers are well known for their scepticism, if not hostility, to GMO crops, often dubbed "Frankenstein foods". But the international biotech industry says its products are safe and no different to conventional foods.

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