The Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Techniques of genetic modification

5.—(1) Until the coming into operation of the first regulations under Article 3(4B)(a)(1) of the Order, genes or other genetic material shall be taken, for the purposes of paragraph (4) of that Article to be artificially modified if they are altered using any of the following techniques:

(a) recombinant nucleic acid techniques involving the formation of new combinations of genetic material by the insertion of nucleic acid molecules, produced by whatever means outside an organism, into any virus, bacterial plasmid or other vector system and their incorporation into a host organism in which they do not naturally occur but in which they are capable of continued propagation;

(b) techniques involving the direct introduction into an organism of heritable material prepared outside the organism including micro-injection, macro-injection and micro-encapsulation;

(c) cell fusion (including protoplast fusion) or hybridisation techniques where live cells with new combinations of heritable genetic material are formed through the fusion of two or more cells by means of methods that do not occur naturally.

(2) Until the coming into operation of the first regulations under Article 3(4B)(b) of the Order, genes or other genetic material shall not be regarded, for the purposes of paragraph (4) of that Article, as artificially modified by reason only of being altered by the use of any of the following techniques: –

(a) in vitro fertilisation,

(b) natural processes such as conjugation, transduction and transformation,

(c) polyploidy induction.

provided that such techniques do not involve the use of recombinant nucleic acid molecules or genetically modified organisms made by techniques or methods other than –

(i) mutagenesis;

(ii) cell fusion (including protoplast fusion) of plant cells of organisms which can exchange genetic material through traditional breeding methods.

(3) Until the coming into operation of the first regulations under Article 4(4C) of the Order, an organism shall be taken, for the purposes of the Order, not to be a genetically modified organism if it is yielded from the techniques or methods listed in paragraph (2)(i) or (ii) provided that those techniques or methods did not involve the use of recombinant nucleic acid molecules or genetically modified organisms other than those made by techniques or methods listed in that paragraph.

(1)

Article 3(4) is amended by regulation 3(3) and Article 3(4A) to 4(4D) is inserted by regulation 3(4)