On July 25th 2018 the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) rendered its long awaited Judgment on the scope of the EU GMO Directive. The ECJ concluded that only plants resulting from conventional, random mutagenesis breeding methods (such as e.g. radiation or chemical mutagenesis) qualify for the exemption laid down in the GMO Directive, even if plants from newer, targeted mutagenesis breeding methods are genetically identical. In November 2019, the Council of the European Union requested the EU-Commission to submit a study in light of the Court of Justice’s judgment in Case C-528/16 regarding the status of novel genomic techniques under Union law. This Commission study was published on 29 April 2021. The European seed sector as well as EU farmers and other partners from the agri-food value chain and the plant science community have repeatedly underlined the importance and urgency of this subject for the future of more sustainable agriculture and food production, especially in support of the ambitious targets set in the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. The seed sector sees the publication of the Commission study as a key step to allow Europe to bring its more than 20-year-old legislation in line with scientific progress. EU’s regulatory framework is needed to allow for a differentiated legal and practical approach to products derived from innovative plant breeding methods, similar to most other parts of the world. The European seed sector and agri-food value chain eagerly waits for actions from the respective EU institutions. There is no time to waste as the first genome edited products are already on the market in certain parts of the world.

Between wish and reality: Where will the EU go from its current burdensome legal situation for innovative plant breeding?

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.