“We are continuing our efforts and there are still a few days left to try to reach an agreement” on the proposal governing the use of new genomic techniques (NGTs), declared the Belgian Minister of Agriculture, David Clarinval, in Luxembourg on Monday 24 June, following the Agriculture Council.
On Wednesday 26 June, the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council will present a new compromise text to the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) aimed at resolving the problem of the impact of patenting practices for NGT plants (see EUROPE 13417/12).
The European Commission has proposed classifying NGT plants into two categories: 1) those considered to be conventional crops and 2) those that need to be regulated as GMOs due to a greater number of DNA modifications.
On the basis of its earlier proposal in May 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council proposes to exclude patented NGT plants and their products from being placed on the market as NGT plants or products in category 1 (the category containing NGT plants considered similar to conventional plants). To this end, the Belgian Presidency has introduced provisional category 1 NGT status, which authorises the deliberate release into the environment of a category 1 NGT plant (for field trials), but not its placing on the market.
This provisional category 1 NGT status is based on verification that the plant meets the equivalence criteria to conventional plants and does not have herbicide tolerance as one of the intended traits. This verification does not extend to product patents or product patent applications at this stage in order to avoid any unnecessary burden on applicants and the competent authorities.
According to this proposal, patented NGT plants and their products may only be placed on the market as category 2 NGT plants or products, following a risk assessment and under stricter regulatory conditions.
Pessimistic Poland. All eyes are on Poland, which is part of the blocking minority and carries enough weight in terms of votes to alter the outcome of the negotiations. However, the Polish minister, Czesław Siekierski, said in Luxembourg on Monday 24 June that although the Belgian proposal included “many suggestions” from certain countries, “we haven’t had enough time to analyse the effects of this proposal” put forward by Belgium. The Polish minister therefore does not believe there will be an agreement on 26 June, because the Member States need to consult experts and their farmers, concluded Czesław Siekierski. Links to the proposal (three parts): https://aeur.eu/f/ct7 , https://aeur.eu/f/ct8 , https://aeur.eu/f/ct9
The future of agriculture. Mr Clarinval also pointed out that only Romania had opposed the conclusions (https://aeur.eu/f/css ) on the future of EU agriculture, while Slovakia had indicated its intention to abstain (see EUROPE 13438/14). These two countries are opposed to maintaining the mechanism for external convergence of aid, “because they want to abolish this mechanism quickly in order to have identical aid for all EU farmers”, explained the Belgian minister. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)