On Wednesday 17 April, the EU’s regions and cities called for a major change to the proposal governing new genomic techniques (NGTs) in order to better protect farmers, support organic farming and guarantee access to all genetic resources.
In adopting the plenary opinion on this subject by Erik Konczer (PES, Hungary), the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) believes that banning patents on natural plants and genes – and therefore guaranteeing access to all genetic resources for varietal innovation purposes – is an essential aspect of any proposal to regulate NGTs. This is to ensure that small traditional seed companies that are unable to buy licences can also use the new technologies or access existing varieties to create new ones.
The CoR advocates full traceability and better labelling of NGTs to guarantee consumers’ freedom of choice and protect farmers in the event of unintentional contamination of their crops.
The proposal will increase market concentration in the seed sector and limit seed genetic diversity as well as the availability of organic seed, according to the CoR. The organic sector should therefore benefit from support measures so that it can co-exist with NGT crops without additional costs or burdens.
Parliament must confirm its position on the NGT dossier in a vote scheduled for 24 April in Strasbourg (https://aeur.eu/f/bv5 ), while the EU Council has still been unable to reach an agreement (see EUROPE 13388/3). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)