EPSO welcomes the move towards a more proportionate regulatory environment for NGT crops. EPSO acknowledges that the proposal is a balanced compromise and supports most of its content, especially the quasi-equivalence of NGT1 plants with conventionally bred ones and the omission of additional labelling requirements beyond the seed labelling.
EPSO has identified a few elements in the legal proposal that should be addressed:
1-Criteria for determining the status of NGT1 plants:
EPSO suggests that the maximum number of targeted genetic changes allowed in NGT1 plants (20) should be counted per basic set of chromosomes to compensate for differences in genome size and complexity between different plant species.
2-Field trials:
EPSO believes that the legislation should enable a simplified approval system for field trials for scientific purposes.
3-Not exclude NGT1 plants from organic farming practices:
For the benefit of organic farming, EPSO strongly recommends that excluding NGT1 category plants should not be part of this legislation.
EPSO looks forward to engaging as a major stakeholder with Member States, the European Parliament and the European Commission to achieve a well-balanced regulation. EPSO will continue providing scientific input in the course of the discussions with policy makers and other stakeholders.
Read the full EPSO statement to the EC’s legal proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on plants obtained by certain NGTs and their food and feed”, 5.11.2023.
Read the summary that was submitted to the EC consultation on 5.11.2023 [Feedback reference F3442539].
- EC legal proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed, 5.7.2023
Contacts:
Jens Sundström, SLU Uppsala, EPSO Chair WG Agricultural Technologies
Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI, EPSO Chair WG Agricultural Technologies
Odd Arne Rognli, NMBU / NO, EPSO President
Karin Metzlaff, EPSO Executive Director