The European Parliament has voted in favour of the European Commission's proposal to simplify the regulatory procedure for certain plants obtained by New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) (see AgbioNews Jul 5, 2023). Currently, all plants obtained by NGTs are subject to the same rules as genetically modified (GM) plants. Under the approved proposal, two different categories and two sets of rules for NGT plants would be established. NGT plants considered equivalent to conventional ones (NGT 1 plants) would be exempted from the requirements of the EU's GM legislation, whilst all other NGT plants (NGT 2 plants) would still be subject to the stricter GM regulatory requirements. The European Parliament wants to keep mandatory labelling of products from both NGT 1 and NGT 2 plants, and has agreed that all NGT plants should remain prohibited in organic production.

In addition, the European Parliament is in favour of a full ban on patents for all NGT plants, plant material, parts thereof, genetic information and process features they contain, to avoid legal uncertainties, increased costs and new dependencies for farmers and breeders. A report on the impact of patents on breeders' and farmers' access to varied plant reproductive material has been requested by June 2025, as well as a legislative proposal to update EU rules on intellectual property rights.