Trilogue negotiations on the “New Genomic Techniques” proposal continue: No viable pathway forward without addressing the traceability, labelling and patent issues, organic sector warns
Trilogue negotiations on the legislative proposal on so-called “New Genomic Techniques” (NGTs) are picking up again after the summer break of the European institutions. The Danish presidency has repeatedly underlined its commitment to carry forward the negotiations between the parliament, the Council and the Commission. However, finding compromises is proving a difficult endeavour considering the significant differences in positions of the three institutions. The European organic movement warns that it is vital for policymakers to champion freedom of choice for farmers, food producers and citizens through traceability in the negotiations.
About one year after the European Parliament voted on the legislative proposal in the plenary session in Strasbourg, the Council of the EU also reached a position on the file in April 2025. The file moved on to the trilogue phase since beginning of May 2025, where the Polish presidency of the Council had scheduled a significant amount of inter-institutional technical meetings before the summer break. At the end of June, negotiations on technical level faced a deadlock between the institutions due to the largely diverging positions, notably on labelling and patents, so that the last scheduled trilogue got cancelled a few days before the meeting. While the schedule still needs to be officially confirmed, there will be 2 potential trilogue negotiations happening: one in early October and one November.
Here a short reminder of the main sticky points:
- On traceability: To ensure the entrepreneurial freedom of European companies, including their right to produce GMO- and NGT-free food, as well as for consumer to know what ends up on their plates, operators need the appropriate legal framework and technical means, notably traceability measures. While the Commission and the Council texts include only transparency at the seed level for category 1 NGTs, the European Parliament acknowledges full supply chain traceability measures as a key tool to enable food processors and operators to avoid the accidental or adventitious presence of NGTs in their production process.
- On patents: The European Commission plans to publish a market analysis of the impact of patents on the breeding sector by 2026, whereas the Council’s provisions on transparency on the patent status of a crop in the seed variety register and the creation of an expert group. Both approaches are insufficient to address this imminent problem. The Parliament adopted an important amendment clarifying that patent protection should not extend to genetic material that can also be obtained by conventional breeding by suggesting amendments to the Biotech Directive 98/44/EC.
- Co-existence: The NGT proposal needs to provide a clear legal basis for Member States to take national and regional coexistence measures for both Category 1 and 2 NGTs, in line with the principles of subsidiarity, national sovereignty, and polluter pays principle. Only the Council’s position took important steps in this regard, both with the re-introduction of the possibility of national territorial bans (deletion of Article 25), as well as a recital on the possibility of co-existence measures for all NGTs. While this still needs to be adapted and clarified to be legally and technically sound, this is a vital safeguard for farmers and food producers that needs to be supported by the European Parliament and Commission in the negotiations
As negotiations are being picked up again this autumn, the European organic movement calls for the EU institutions to support the important changes introduced by the Parliament as regards to the issue of patents and traceability as well as the intentions on creating the national basis for co-existence measures for all NGTs introduced by the Council. Importantly, the trilogues are the last opportunity to get to a text that might establish minimum safeguards for freedom of choice for farmers and producers. More information on what the organic movement is calling for in the negotiations is elaborated on in this article.
