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Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023

Contents

Legal background

  1. The regulation of GMOs in the UK is mainly based on EU law passed in the 1990s and updated in the 2000s. These regulations were implemented in the UK through Part VI of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) and subsequent secondary legislation and retained direct EU law.  
  2. Section 106 of the EPA (Part VI) and Regulation 5 of the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002 ("the Deliberate Release Regulations 2002") use the EU definition of a GMO from Directive 2001/18/EC. The EPA introduces the additional concept of ‘artificial modification’ which more clearly establishes that it is the techniques used to develop an organism that determine its GM status; whether the genetic changes could have occurred naturally or by traditional methods has no bearing. The techniques of artificial modification are set out in regulation 5 of the Deliberate Release Regulations 2002. This list captures the techniques developed in the 1980s (and aligns with Annex 1A, part 1 of Directive 2001/18/EC). This regulation also lists natural processes and traditional breeding methods that are not regarded as being GM techniques (and aligns with Annex 1A, part 2 of Directive 2001/18/EC).
  3. The UK is a signatory of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is an international treaty governing the movements of GMOs from one country to another. This is implemented by retained EU Regulation 1946/2003, which establishes a system for notifying and providing information for the transboundary movements of GMOs. The Genetically Modified Organisms (Transboundary Movements) (England) Regulations 2004 provide for enforcement of this Regulation in England.  The UK Government considers that the Cartagena Protocol does not apply to organisms produced using modern biotechnologies if those organisms could have occurred naturally or been produced by traditional methods.
  4. Retained EU GM Food and Feed Regulations (1829/2003/EC) govern the use of GM human food and animal feed. This covers food and feed products containing living GMOs as well as non-living products derived from them. Persons intending to market GMOs can seek authorisation to cultivate GM crops under these regulations in addition to seeking approval to use them as food and feed. Alternatively, they can seek authorisation for cultivation under the GMO Deliberate Release legislation and separately, seek authorisation for their use in food and/or feed. If the organism is not intended for use in food or feed, it can be authorised for marketing under the GMO Deliberate Release legislation. The GM food and feed regulations refer to the definition of a GMO in the EU Directive 2001/18/EC. 

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