BIOVEGEN celebrates the support of the European Parliament for the new legislation on NGT plants in the European Union
BIOVEGEN celebrates the support of the European Parliament for the adoption of a new legislation for plants obtained through new genomic techniques (NGT) in the European Union.
On February 7, the Members of the European Parliament approved, with 307 votes in favor, 263 against, and 41 abstentions, the legislative proposal ON plants obtained through new genomic techniques. This new legislative proposal -driven by the European Commission- simplifies the authorization procedure for those plants that reproduce changes that occur spontaneously in nature (but in a faster and directed way, speeding up the processes and reducing the times), which it calls NGT1, and brings them closer to the regime of plants generated by conventional breeding methods such as traditional mutagenesis.
The vote also expressed support for proposing various amendments to the text presented by the Commission. Among other things, it has been proposed to include a prohibition on registering patents on plants obtained with NGT (the plant material, its parts, the genetic information, and the characteristics of the process they contain), although the parliamentary chamber considers that further studies and reports will be needed to specify the compatibility of this requirement with other regulations, as well as its potential impact on access to reproductive material. On the other hand, in line with the Commission’s text, the parliamentary majority has voted in favor of prohibiting NGT crops in organic farming.
Once the parliamentary procedure is completed, the time opens for Member States, represented in the Council, to seek a consensus on the approval of the text and, if applicable, propose new amendments. If successful, the approval in the Council will be the penultimate stage, only pending the trilogues. In these last discussions, representatives from the Commission, the Parliament, and the Council will negotiate the final version of the regulation based on the proposed amendments.
From BIOVEGEN, the plant innovation ecosystem that brings together 185 companies and R&D centers in plant science, we believe that NGTs will help the European agri-food system become more sustainable, productive, resilient to increasingly evident climate variations and pests, allowing the European Union to compete on equal terms with other producer countries globally.
BIOVEGEN views these advancements as a victory for science and the European agri-food sector, and we will continue to provide our support to scientists, businesses, and administrations, as well as to the other stakeholders in the sector involved.