The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on Wednesday adopted its position on the Commission proposal on New Genomic Techniques (NGT), with 47 votes to 31 and 4 abstentions.

MEPs agree with the proposal to have two different categories and two sets of rules for NGT plants. NGT plants considered equivalent to conventional ones (NGT 1 plants) would be exempted from the requirements of the GMO legislation, whereas for NGT 2 plants this legislation adapts the GMO framework to those NGT plants.

MEPs also agree that all NGT plants should remain prohibited in organic production as their compatibility requires further consideration.

NGT 1 plants

For NGT 1 plants, MEPs amended the proposed rules on the size and number of modifications needed for a NGT plant to be considered equivalent to conventional plants. MEPs also want NGT seeds to be labelled accordingly and to set up a public online list of all NGT 1 plants.

While there would be no mandatory labelling at consumer…