Commission européenne, comité de réglementation en vertu de la directive 2001/18, compte rendu de la réunion du 25 novembre 2021

Niveau juridique : Union européenne

On notera les points suivants :

  • A.02 EFSA scientific opinion on in vivo and in vitro random mutagenesis techniques in plants–Presentation by EFSA and discussion.

EFSA presented the opinion recently published (efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6611), which concluded that the distinction between in vivo and in vitro random mutagenesis is not scientifically justified. The Commission confirmed that this conclusion is supporting the Commission’s position not to make a distinction between in vivo and in vitro mutagenesis when implementing the GMO legislation and the legislation on plant reproductive materials.

France gave an update on the recent Conseil d’État decision on mutagenesis ; this decision referred two new questions to the Court of Justice of the EU for further clarification on the mutagenesis exemption under the GMO legislation.

  • A.04 New Genomic Techniques: Member States’ update on implementation of legislation and information from the Commission on policy initiative on plants obtained from targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis.

The Commission invited the Member States to share any available update on their experience in the implementation and enforcement of the GMO legislation, in particular as regards the challenges and possibilities to detect certain products of new genomic techniques. One Member State shared an update on a number of projects focused on detection and identification of NGT products and state of the art of NGT databases.

The Commission updated the Committee on the on going activities in the European Union reference laboratory for GM Food&Feed and in the European Network for GM laboratories, which includes NGT Genetically Modified Microorganisms (GMM) detection.

The Commission reminded that the Working Programme 2021-2022 of Horizon Europe offers funding to address among other, detection and traceability issues. The Commission provided the Member States with an update on the policy initiative on plants obtained from targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis, in particular preliminary information on the feedback to the inception impact assessment.

The Commission also presented information on the high-level conference of 29 November and next steps concerning the policy initiative. The Commission emphasised that the impact assessment will have to rely on robust evidence; to this end, contribution of all stakeholders, including Member States authorities, is essential.

One Member State invited to continue discussions in the future on epigenetic techniques, while another Member State asked to pursue work also on microorganisms. 

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