Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed, and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/625

Tabled by Christophe Clergeau

… special rules laid down in this Regulation concerning the authorisation procedure for Removed: category 2 NGT plants are expected to result in more cultivation in the Union of Removed: category 2 NGT plants compared to the situation so far under the current Union … renders necessary for Member States’ public authorities to define coexistence measures to Removed: balance Added: protect the interests of producers of Removed: conventional, organic and GM Added: conventional and organic plants and thereby allow producers a choice between different types of production, … target of 25 % of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. Added: Organic and conventional operators should have the right and freedom not to use NGTs in their production process and throughout their supply chain. This Regulation should lay out adequate provisions to ensure the freedom of choice for operators not to use NGT plants and seeds in their production processes. Any additional financial or legal burden to ensure the GMO-free and NGT-free status of production should not fall on farmers and operators who do not wish to use NGTs. Economic losses incurred due to the adventitious presence of GMOs should not fall on NGT-free conventional and organic operators. In most cases of adventitious presence, it is impossible to establish the causes, faults, and therefore responsibilities. To achieve the goal of ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market, and in order to ensure that the coexistence measures are consistent, EU-wide legally binding coexistence measures for cultivation of NGTs should be adopted. Thus, this Regulation should establish coexistence measures, laying the basis for national liability provisions and compensation funds. The Commission should be empowered to draw up delegated acts to cover, in particular, the width of buffer strips between conventional plants and NGT plants, for each type of crop.

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE756.833