Changes from adopted text to adopted text

Removed(18) Since the criteria for considering that a NGT plant is equivalent to naturally occurring or conventionally bred plants are unrelated to the type of activity that requires the deliberate release of the NGT plant, a declaration of the category 1 NGT plant status made prior to its deliberate release for any other purpose than placing on the market in the territory of the Union should also be valid for the placing on the market of related NGT products. In view of the high uncertainty existing at the field trial stage about the product reaching the market and the likely involvement of smaller operators in such releases, the verification procedure of category 1 NGT plant status prior to field trials should be conducted by national competent authorities as this would be less administratively burdensome for operators, and a decision should be taken at Union level only in case there are comments to the verification report by other national competent authorities. Where the verification request is submitted prior to the placing on the market of NGT products, and if there are reasoned objections by other Member States, the procedure should be conducted at Union levelin consultation with the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) in order to ensure effectiveness of the verification procedure and consistency of the category 1 NGT plant status declarations. [Am. 11]

Removed(18a) In order to effectively select new varieties that help the agricultural sector increase food security, as well as sustainability, adaptation and resilience in relation to the consequences of climate change, it is necessary to consider the specificity of polyploid plants, which are plants that contain more than two genomes. For such plants, the maximum number of genetic modifications allowed for inclusion in category 1 NGT should be proportionate to the number of genomes they contain. [Am. 12]

Removed(19) The competent authorities of the Member States, the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) should be subject to strictappropriate deadlines to ensure that category 1 NGT plant status declarations are made within a reasonable time. [Am. 13]

Removed(20) The verification of category 1 NGT plant status is of technical nature and does not involve any risk assessment or risk management considerations and the decision on the status is only declaratory. Therefore, when the procedure is conducted at Union level, such implementing decisions should be adopted by the advisory procedure, supported by scientific and technical assistance by the Authority.

Removed(21) Decisions declaring the category 1 NGT plant status should assign an identification number to the NGT plant concerned in order to ensure transparency and traceability of such plants when they are listed in the database and for the purpose of labelling of plant reproductive material derived from them. The information listed should include information on the technique or techniques used to obtain the trait or traits. [Am. 14]

Removed(22) Category 1 NGT plants should remain subject to any regulatory framework that applies to conventionally bred plants. As is the case for conventional plants and products, those NGT plants and their products will be subject to the applicable sectoral legislation on seed and other plant reproductive material, food, feed and other products, and horizontal frameworks, such as the nature conservation legislation and environmental liability. In this regard, category 1 NGT food featuring a significantly changed composition or structure that affects the nutritional value, metabolism or level of undesirable substances of the food will be considered as novel food and thus fall into the scope of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council () and will be risk assessed in that context.

Removed(23) Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and the Council on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007() prohibits the use of GMOs and products from and by GMOs in organic production. It defines GMOs for the purposes of that Regulation by reference to Directive 2001/18/EC, excluding from the prohibition GMOs which have been obtained through the techniques of genetic modification listed in Annex 1.B of Directive 2001/18/EC. As a result, category 2 NGT plants will be banned in organic production. However, it is necessary to clarify the status of category 1 NGT plants for the purposes of organic production. Currently, the compatibility of the use of new genomic techniques is currently incompatible with the conceptprinciples of organic production in the Regulation (EC) 2018/848 and with consumers’ perception of organic productsrequires further consideration. The use of category 1 NGT plants should therefore be also prohibited in organic production, until such further consideration takes place. [Am. 15]

Removed(24) Provision should be made to ensure transparency as regards the use of category 1 NGT plant varieties, to ensure that production chains that wish to remain free from NGTs can do so and thereby safeguard consumer trust. NGT plants that have obtained a category 1 NGT plant status declaration should be listed in a publicly available database including information on the technique or techniques used to obtain the trait or traits. To ensure traceability, transparency and choice for operators, during research and plant breeding, when selling seed to farmers or making plant reproductive material available to third parties in any other way, plant reproductive material of category 1 NGT plants should be labelled as category 1 NGT. [Am. 16]

Removed(25) Category 2 NGT plants should remain subject to the requirements of the Union GMO legislation given that on the basis of current scientific and technical knowledge, their risks need to be assessed. Special rules should be provided in order to adapt the procedures and certain other rules laid down in Directive 2001/18/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 to the specific nature of category 2 NGT plants and the differing levels of risk that they may pose.

Removed(26) Category 2 NGT plants and products, in order to be released into the environment or placed on the market, should remain subject to a consent or authorisation in accordance with Directive 2001/18/EC or Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003. However, given the wide variety of those NGT plants, the amount of information necessary for the risk assessment will vary on a case-by-case basis. The Authority, in its scientific opinions on plants developed through cisgenesis and intragenesis and on plants developed through targeted mutagenesis recommended flexibility in data requirements for the risk assessment of these plants. Based on the Authority’s ‘Criteria for risk assessment of plants produced by targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis’ (), considerations on the history of safe use, familiarity for the environment and the function and structure of the modified/inserted sequence(s) should assist in determining the type and amount of data required to perform the risk assessment of those NGT plants. It is therefore necessary to establish general principles and criteria for the risk assessment of these plants, while providing for flexibility and possibility to adapt risk assessment methodologies to scientific and technical progress.

Removed(27) Requirements on the content of notifications for consent for the placing on the market of products containing or consisting of GMOs other than food or feed and on the content of applications for authorisation for the placing on the market of genetically modified food and feed are laid down in different pieces of legislation. To ensure consistency between the notifications for consent and applications for authorisation for category 2 NGT products, the content of such notifications and applications should be the same, except those concerning the assessment of food and feed safety assessment as these are only relevant to category 2 NGT food and feed.

Removed(28) The European Union Reference Laboratory for GM Food and Feed (EURL), in collaboration with the European Network of GM Laboratories (ENGL), concluded that analytical testing is not considered feasible for all products obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis (). When the introduced modifications of the genetic material are not specific to the NGT plant in question, they do not allow the differentiation of the NGT plant from conventional plants. In cases where it is not feasible to provide an analytical method that detects, identifies and quantifies, if duly justified by the notifier or the applicant, the modalities to comply with analytical method requirements should be adapted. This should be done in the implementing acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation. Provision should also be made for the EURL, assisted by the ENGL, to adopt guidance for applicants on the minimum performance requirements for analytical methods. Modalities for performing method validation may also be adapted.

Removed(29) Directive 2001/18/EC requires a monitoring plan for environmental effects of GMOs after their deliberate release or placing on the market but provides for flexibility as to the design of the plan taking into account the environmental risk assessment, the characteristics of the GMO, of its expected use and of the receiving environment. Genetic modifications in category 2 NGT plants may range from changes only needing a limited risk assessment to complex alterations requiring a more thorough analysis of potential risks. Therefore, post-market monitoring requirements for environmental effects of category 2 NGT plants should be adapted in the light of the environmental risk assessment and the experience in field trials, the characteristics of the NGT plant concerned, the characteristics and scale of its expected use, in particular any history of safe use of the plant and the characteristics of the receiving environment. ThereforeIn view of the precautionary principle, a monitoring plan for environmental effects should notalways be required ifwhen consent is first given. It should only be possible to waive the requirement for monitoring upon the renewal of consent, provided that it has been demonstrated that the category 2 NGT plant is unlikely todoes not pose risks that need monitoring, such as indirect, delayed or unforeseen effects on human health or on the environment. [Am. 17]

Removed(30) For reasons of proportionality, after a first renewal of the authorisation, the authorisation should be valid for an unlimited period, unless decided differently at the time of that renewal based on the risk assessment and the available information on the NGT plant concerned, subject to reassessment when new information has become available.

Removed(31) For reasons of legal certainty and good administration, the timeline for the Authority to deliver its opinion on an application for authorisation should only be extended when additional information is necessary to carry out the assessment of the application, and the extension should not be longer than the originally foreseen time limit unless it is justified by the nature of the data or exceptional circumstances.

Removed(32) To increase transparency and consumers’ information, operators should be allowed to complement the labelling of category 2 NGT products as GMO with information on the trait conferred by the genetic modification. In order to avoid misleading or confusing indications, a proposal for such a labelling should be provided in the notification for consent or in the application for authorisation and should be specified in the consent or in the authorisation decision.

Removed(33) Regulatory incentives should be offered to potential notifiers or applicants for category 2 NGT plants and products containing traits with the potential to contribute to a sustainable agri-food system, in order to steer the development of category 2 NGT plants towards such traits. The criteria to trigger these incentives should focus on broad trait categories with the potential to contribute to sustainability (such as those linked to tolerance or resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, improved nutritional characteristics or increased yield) and should be based on the contribution to the value for sustainable cultivation and use as defined in [Article 52(1) of the Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material in the Union]. The applicability of the criteria across the EU does not allow a narrower definition of traits to focus on specific issues or address local and regional specificities.

Removed(34) Incentives should consist in an accelerated procedure for risk assessment as regards applications handled by a fully centralised procedure (food and feed products) and enhanced pre-submission advice to help developers prepare the dossier for the purpose of the environmental and food and feed safety assessments, without affecting the general provisions on pre-submission advice, notification of studies and consultation of third parties pursuant to Articles 32a, 32b and 32c of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002().

Removed(35) Additional incentives should be afforded when the notifier or applicant is a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), to promote access to the regulatory procedures by these enterprises, support diversification of developers of NGT plants and encourage the development by small breeders of crop species and traits by means of NGTs, by granting fee waivers for the validation of detection methods to SMEs and more extensive pre-submission advice covering also the design of studies to be carried out for the purpose of risk assessment.

Removed(36) Herbicide tolerant plants are bred to be intentionally tolerant to herbicides, in order to be cultivated in combination with the use of those herbicides. If such cultivation is not done under appropriate conditions, it may lead to development of weeds resistant to those herbicides or to the need to increase of quantities of herbicides applied, regardless of the breeding technique. For this reason, NGT plants featuring herbicide-tolerant traits should not be eligible for incentives under this framework. However, this Regulation should not take other specific measures on herbicide tolerantfall within the scope of the category 1 NGT plants, because such measures are taken horizontally in [the Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material in the Union]. [Am. 18]

Removed(37) In order to enable NGT plants to contribute to the sustainability objectives of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, cultivation of NGT plants in the Union should be facilitated. This requires predictability for breeders and farmers as regards the possibility to cultivate such plants in the Union. Therefore, the possibility for Member States to adopt measures restricting or prohibiting the cultivation of category 2 NGT plants in all or part of their territory, set out in Article 26b of Directive 2001/18/EC would undermine those goals. [Am. 239]

Removed(38) The special rules laid down in this Regulation concerning the authorisation procedure for category 2 NGT plants are expected to result in more cultivation in the Union of category 2 NGT plants compared to the situation so far under the current Union GMO legislation. That renders necessary for Member States’ public authorities to define coexistence measures to balance the interests of producers of conventional, organic and GM plants and thereby allow producers a choice between different types of production, in line with the Farm to Fork Strategy’s target of 25 % of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030.

Removed(39) To achieve the goal of ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market, NGT plants and related products should benefit from and the free movement of goods, provided they comply with theNGT plant and NGT products across the Union, the deliberate release of NGT plants and placing on the market of NGT products should be based on the harmonised requirements and procedures laid down in this Regulation, leading to the adoption of a decision uniformly applicable to all Member Statesof other Union law. [Am. 20]

Removed(40) Given the novelty of the NGTs, it will be important to monitor closely theongoing development and presence on the market of NGT plants and products and evaluate any accompanying impact on human and animal health, the environment and environmental, economic and social sustainability. Informationof new genomic techniques, the Commission should be collected regularly andcarry out an evaluation within five years after the adoption of the first decision allowing the deliberate release or the marketing of NGT plants or NGT products in the Union, the Commission should carry out an. That evaluation of this Regulation toshould measure the progress made towards the availability of NGT plants or NGT products containing such characteristics or properties on the EU market, with the aim of further improving this Regulation. [Am. 21]

Removed(41) In order to provide a high level of protection of health and environmental protection in relation to NGT plants and NGT products, requirements arising from this Regulation should apply in a non-discriminatory manner to products originating in the Union and imported from third countries.

Removed(42) Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can be better achieved at Union level, so that NGT plants and NGT products may circulate freely within the internal market, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

Removed(43) The types of NGT plants developed and the impact of certain traits on environmental, social and economic sustainability are continuously evolving. Therefore, based on the available evidence of such developments and impacts, fully taking into account the precautionary principle, the Commission should be empowered in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to adapt the list of traits that should be incentivized or discouraged to achieve the goals of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork, Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation strategies. [Am. 22]

Removed(44) It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

Removed(45) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards the information required to demonstrate that a NGT plant is a category 1 NGT plant, as regards the preparation and the presentation of the notification for that determination, and as regards the methodology and information requirements for the environmental risk assessments of category 2 NGT plants and of NGT food and NGT feed, in accordance with the principles and criteria laid down in this Regulation. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council().

Removed(45a) The European Parliament has called for the Union and its Member States not to grant patents on biological material and to safeguard the freedom to operate and the breeders’ exemption for varieties. It should be ensured that breeders have full access to the genetic material of NGT plants, which by definition are not transgenic plants. Access to genetic materials can best be secured when the right of patent holders is exhausted in the hand of the breeder (breeder’s exemption). As current provisions in patent law do not provide for a full breeder’s exemption, it should be ensured that patents should not restrict the use of NGT plants by breeders and farmers. Hence, NGT plants should not be subject to patent legislation, but should for the protection of intellectual property solely be subject to the Community Plant Variety Rights (CPVR) system, as laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94, which allows the use of the breeder’s exemption. NGT plants, their derived seeds, their plant material, associated genetic material such as genes and gene sequences, and plant traits should therefore be excluded from patentability. The exclusion from patentability should be applied in a consistent manner across legislation. Furthermore, in order to avoid patents being granted or patent applications being submitted between the date of the entry into force of this Regulation and the application of its provisions, it should be ensured that plant material is excluded from patentability from the day of entry into force of this Regulation. For patents already granted or pending patent applications covering plant material, the effects of patents should be further limited. In addition, the Commission should assess and address, in the forthcoming study, how the broader problem of patents being granted, directly or indirectly, on plant material despite previous efforts to close loopholes, should be further addressed. The assessment should address in particular the role and impact of patents on breeders' and farmers' access to plant reproductive material, seed diversity and affordable prices, as well as on innovation and in particular on opportunities for SMEs. The report of the Commission should be accompanied by the appropriate legislative proposals in order to ensure further necessary adjustments are made to the intellectual property rights framework. [Am. 23]

Removed(46) The Commission should regularly collect information in order to assess the performance of the legislation in achieving the development and availability of NGT plants and NGT products in the market that can contribute to the objectives of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork, Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation strategies and in order to inform an evaluation of the legislation. A broad set of indicators have been identified and should be periodically reviewed by the Commission. The indicators should support monitoring of potential risks to health or the environment of category 2 NGT plants and related NGT products, impact of NGT plants on environmental, economic and social sustainability as well as impact on organic agriculture and on consumers acceptance of NGT products. A first monitoring report should be presented three years after the first products have been notified/authorised, to ensure that enough data is available after full implementation of the new legislation, and at regular intervals thereafter. The Commission should carry out an evaluation of this Regulation two years after the first monitoring report has been published, in order to allow for the impact of the first products going through the verification or authorisation to fully materialise.

Removed(47) Certain references to provisions of the Union GMO legislation in Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council () need to be amended to include the specific provisions in this legislation applicable to NGT plants.

Removed(47a) The European Green Deal, the ‘Farm to Fork’, and the EU Biodiversity Strategies put organic farming at the core of a transition to sustainable food systems, with a target to expand European agricultural land under organic production to 25 % by 2030. This is a clear recognition of the environmental benefits of organic farming, for less dependency on inputs for farmers, and a resilient food supply and food sovereignty. This Regulation must not adversely undermine the pathway to a transition of European food systems to organic farming to 25 % by 2030. [Am. 241]

Removed(47b) Traceability requirements for food and feed produced from NGTs should be established to facilitate the accurate labelling of such products, in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 on genetically modified food and feed, so as to ensure that accurate information is available to operators and consumers to enable them to exercise their freedom of choice in an effective manner, as well as to enable control and verification of labelling claims. Requirements for food and feed produced from NGTs should be similar in order to avoid discontinuity of information in cases of change in end use. [Am. 243]

Removed(48) Since the application of this Regulation requires the adoption of implementing acts, it should be deferred in time to allow for the adoption of such measures,

RemovedHAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

RemovedCHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS

RemovedArticle 1 Subject matter

RemovedThis Regulation, in accordance with the precautionary principle lays down specific rules for the deliberate release into the environment for any other purpose than placing on the market of plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques (‘NGT plants’) and for the placing on the market of food and feed containing, consisting of or produced from such plants, and of products, other than food or feed, containing or consisting of such plants, ensuring a high level of protection of human and animal health and the environment. [Am. 24]

RemovedArticle 2 Scope

RemovedThis Regulation shall apply to:

Removed(1) NGT plants;

Removed(2) food containing, consisting of or produced from NGT plants, or containing ingredients produced from NGT plants;

Removed(3) feed containing, consisting or produced from NGT plants;

Removed(4) products, other than food and feed, containing or consisting of NGT plants.

RemovedArticle 3 Definitions

RemovedFor the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

Removed(1) the definitions of ‘organism’, ‘deliberate release’ and ‘placing on the market’ set out in Directive 2001/18/EC, those of ‘food’ and ‘feed’ set out in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, that of ‘traceability’ set out in Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003, that of ‘plant’ set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council() and that of ‘plant reproductive material’ set out in [the Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material in the Union];

Removed(2) ‘NGT plant’ means a genetically modified plant obtained by targeted mutagenesis orcisgenesis, or a combination thereof, on the condition that it does not contain any genetic material originating from outside the breeders’ gene pool for conventional breeding purposes that temporarily may have been inserted during the development of the NGT plant; [Am. 25]

Removed(3) ‘genetically modified organism’ or ‘GMO’ means a genetically modified organism as defined in Article 2(2) of Directive 2001/18/EC, excluding organisms obtained through the techniques of genetic modification listed in Annex I B to Directive 2001/18/EC;

Removed(4) ‘targeted mutagenesis’ means mutagenesis techniques resulting in modification(s) of the DNA sequence at precisetargeted locations in the genome of an organism; [Am. 26]

Removed(5) ‘cisgenesis’ means techniques of genetic modification resulting in the insertion, in the genome of an organism, of genetic material already present in the breeders’ gene pool;

Removed(6) ‘breeders’ gene pool for conventional breeding purposes’ means the total genetic information available in one species and other taxonomic species with which it can be cross-bred, including by using advanced techniques such as embryo rescue, induced polyploidy and bridge crosses; [Am. 27]

Removed(7) ‘category 1 NGT plant’ means a NGT plant that:

Removed(a) fulfils the criteria of equivalence to conventional plants, set out in Annex I, or

Removed(b) is progeny of the NGT plant(s) referred to in point (a), including progeny derived by crossing of such plants, on the condition that there are no further modifications that would make it subject to Directive 2001/18/EC or Regulation 1829/2003;

Removed(8) ‘category 2 NGT plant’ means a NGT plant other than a category 1 NGT plant;

Removed(9) ‘NGT plant for food use’ means a NGT plant that may be used as food or as a source material for the production of food;

Removed(10) ‘NGT plant for feed use’ means a NGT plant that may be used as feed or as a source material for the production of feed;

Removed(11) ‘produced from a NGT plant’ means derived, in whole or in part, from a NGT plant, but not containing or consisting of a NGT plant;