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ENGA Newsletter No. 25: January 2025 

Dear Readers,

It does not look like a quick agreement will be reached under the Polish Council Presidency either: Its proposal, meant to break the stalemate in the negotiations between EU member states on the new GMOs (or New Genomic Techniques, NGTs) legislation and focused exclusively on patents, triggered many critical questions. The next Council working group meeting, scheduled for 14 February, will continue to deal with them. Read our background information here.

Why the EU Commission’s plans to deregulate new GMOs are to the detriment of the EU food sector – find out more in our press release and a recently published legal opinion, commissioned by ENGA's member VLOG (German Association Food without Genetic Engineering). The results in a nutshell: The Commission’s legislative proposal will shift safety testing and liability risks for plants produced with NGTs, and the products derived from them, from biotech companies to the food industry. Should the law come into force as it currently stands, costs and burdens will be transferred from biotech firms to food producers.

If you would like to learn more about the legal opinion and its consequences, please register for our webinar on the 30th of January from 10:30 to 12:00 CET by emailing event@ohnegentechnik.org Dr. Georg Buchholz, lawyer at the Berlin law firm GGSC and author of the legal opinion, will present its main findings. The webinar (in German) will also explore potential ways business can collaborate to address these challenges. 

Please support us by distributing this newsletter within your network. To regularly receive our newsletter and get all the latest updates on Non-GMO in Europe, subscribe. Also keep in touch with ENGA by following us on LinkedIn.

Please feel free to inform your partners and networks about the work and goals of ENGA, and to increase our strength on the European market and towards the European regulatory bodies by having as many business platforms and companies as possible join our cause.

Kind regards, 
Heike Moldenhauer
Secretary General
 


Polish Presidency – new proposal on NGT legislation

The law to regulate New Genomic Techniques has been blocked at EU Council level now for a year and a half, with the Spanish, Belgians and, most recently, the Hungarians unable to break the deadlock. The Poles have begun their Presidency with a mission to find a compromise that is acceptable to Member States. Our article looks in detail at their proposal and how it was received at the most recent working group meeting. 




A new legal opinion: a warning to the EU food industry

A recently published legal opinion, commissioned by ENGA member VLOG, highlights some worrying consequences for the EU food industry of the deregulation plans for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). The legal opinion explains how the entire burden for safety tests and liability will be shifted onto the food industry, and will not be the responsibility of biotech firms - the creators (and profiteers) of the technology. 




Upcoming Webinar (in German): Legal Implications of Genetic Engineering Deregulation for the Food Industry

This Thursday VLOG, ENGA, and ARGE Gentechnik-frei will host a private webinar to discover, from the author of the new legal opinion himself, the legal ramifications of the European Commission's proposal to deregulate New Genomic Techniques.





European Non-GMO Industry Association

ENGA (AISBL)
Rue du Trône 194
1050 Ixelles
Belgium

Telephone: +32 493 3354 91
Email: info(at)enga(dot)org
Website: www.enga.org