The European sector urges the EU to avoid new restrictions and to conclude a coherent, science-based agreement on NGTs
The third and final round of trilogues begins to finalize an agreement on the Regulation on plants obtained through New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) and the food and feed derived from them.
This Wednesday marks the start of the third and final round of trilogues to reach a definitive agreement on the Regulation concerning plants obtained through New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) and the food and feed derived from them. This moment represents a turning point in a process that began with the European Commission’s proposal in July 2023, continued with the European Parliament’s endorsement on 7 February 2024 and, subsequently, with the negotiation mandate approved by Member States on 14 March 2025.
After months of negotiations, and with some positions remaining widely divergent, 25 organizations from across the European Union (EU) have signed a joint letter addressed to the European Parliament, urging that no new unjustified restrictions be imposed and that a final agreement aligned with the spirit of the Commission’s original proposal be supported.
The letter expresses “deep concern that the much-needed progress that NGTs could bring appears to be blocked by political demands that go beyond the scope of the Commission’s original proposal,” whose objective was to establish a regulatory system to verify the equivalence of NGT-derived plants similar to conventional ones.
The text warns that subjecting these products to additional sustainability, traceability, labeling or exhaustive monitoring requirements “weakens the scientific basis of the proposal, limits the potential and effectiveness of these technologies and places the EU’s approach in opposition to that of all other countries that already have legislation in place.” This stance, it adds, could also “create risks of unnecessary conflicts with key global trading partners.”
The letter stresses that simplification and competitiveness must remain EU priorities, and that additional conditions for NGT1 products “only add new layers of bureaucracy for Member States and operators, increase costs and create unnecessary complexity and administrative burden.” Furthermore, the new regulation has a clear purpose: to authorize plants similar to conventional ones under similar conditions, without adding elements already covered by other specific pieces of EU legislation.
The EU must ensure access to new plant-breeding techniques to face climate challenges
The signatory organizations emphasize that “adopting NGT legislation without further delay is essential to promote Europe’s strategic autonomy”—particularly considering that nearly 30 countries have already updated their regulatory frameworks to strengthen the use of these technologies and their positive impact on productivity and competitiveness.
Therefore, they urge the co-legislators to “remove unnecessary additional requirements for the authorization of NGT products, conclude negotiations now and adopt legislation that is science-based, future-oriented and aligned with the core objectives of competitiveness, simplification and trade facilitation.”
At AseBio, we fully endorse this joint letter, as the future of European agriculture and its competitiveness depends on having a proportionate, clear regulatory framework aligned with scientific evidence. We strongly welcome continued progress on the approval of this much-needed regulation, which will make it possible to leverage advances in this field and facilitate the arrival of NGT-derived products so that society can benefit from their full potential.
European biotechnology needs an environment that drives innovation, contributes to sustainability and allows our farmers and companies to compete on equal terms globally. That is why we support this letter and the urgency of concluding a balanced, science-based agreement.