#52026AG0006(02)Council position on EU rules for plants created with new genomic techniques
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This text explains the Council’s agreed position on a planned EU law for plants made with certain new genomic techniques. It keeps a two-track system: simpler plants that are treated like conventional plants, and more complex plants that still face GMO-style checks. For food, seed, breeding, and biotech businesses, the practical effect is a clearer route to market for some NGT plants, but continued controls, traceability, and labeling for others. The draft also adds sustainability screens, patent transparency steps, and limits on use in organic production. Farmers, breeders, seed companies, and importers will need to check which category a plant falls into, whether patent disclosures are required, and whether national rules on cultivation apply.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Creates two categories of NGT plants: category 1 plants can be treated like conventional plants if they pass a verification test; category 2 plants stay under GMO-style notification or authorization rules.
- Adds a sustainability exclusion list for category 1, so plants with certain traits, including herbicide tolerance, are kept in the stricter category.
- Introduces patent transparency measures, optional incentives for some category 2 plants with positive sustainability traits, and keeps organic production rules and national cultivation opt-outs in place.
Obligations
What this law requires
Operators seeking category 1 NGT status must undergo a verification procedure in which a national competent authority or the Commission establishes that the NGT plant is equivalent to a conventional plant before the plant can be exempted from GMO legislation.
Operators seeking category 1 status for an NGT plant must submit information on any patents or published patent applications, together with a declaration that patent holders are willing to license on fair and reasonable terms, as part of the verification request; this information is to be made public in a database.
Category 1 NGT plants that carry a trait on the sustainability negative list cannot be classified as category 1 and must instead undergo authorisation, traceability, and monitoring requirements applicable to category 2 NGT plants.
Operators placing category 2 NGT plants on the market must use the applicable notification or authorisation procedure under GMO-style rules, subject to the Regulation’s lighter, risk-adapted assessment and monitoring requirements.
If a category 2 NGT plant bears a trait listed in the negative sustainability annex, the plant cannot be treated as category 1 and must instead comply with category 2 requirements, including authorisation, traceability and monitoring.