The USDA has updated and modernised its biotechnology regulations through the Sustainable, Ecological, Consistent, Uniform, Responsible, Efficient (SECURE) rule. The SECURE rule will reportedly streamline and modernise the regulatory system through the removal of duplicative and antiquated processes in order to facilitate the development and availability of biotechnologies through a transparent, consistent, science-based, and risk-proportionate regulatory system.

USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will now evaluate plants developed using genetic engineering for plant pest risk under a new process called a regulatory status review, regulating only those that plausibly pose an increased plant pest risk. The new process will ensure the regulations keep pace with the latest science and technological advances, reduce regulatory burdens for developers of plants developed using genetic engineering that are unlikely to pose plant pest risks, and ensure that resources are better focused on the prevention of plant pest risk.