For more than 20 years, the use of genetic engineering in agriculture has been regulated uniformly across the EU. Current EU law regulates the approval, traceability, and labeling of genetically modified plants and their products. This legal framework is intended in particular to ensure risk assessment in the form of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and the freedom of choice of consumers for or against GMO-free food.

New genomic techniques such as the CRISPR/Cas gene scissors have led to rapid progress in green genetic engineering, as they open up new possibilities for intervening in the genome of organisms simply, precisely, and quickly.

The protective mechanisms of current EU law no longer seem to be up to date, and so the EU Commission has initiated a new legislative process in 2023 to promote the establishment of green genetic engineering in the EU.

This means that green genetic engineering is back on the political agenda – and back in the public debate. Interest groups are arguing about easing restrictions on field trials, patent bans for new genomic processes, maintaining the labeling requirement, or the ban on genetic engineering in organic farming.

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