NGT update: European Parliament adopts deregulation rules and rejects seed patent amendments

Yesterday (June 17), the European Parliament adopted contested rules deregulating plants made with new genomic techniques (NGTs), and rejected amendments that would have curbed patents on seeds. Meanwhile, the organic sector and civil society groups continue to warn that the vote and soon-to-be law open the door to corporate control of Europe’s genetic resources.

The decision comes days after EU negotiators struck a separate provisional deal to modernize the bloc’s wider seed-marketing rules, leaving farmers and breeders weighing hard-won biodiversity gains against fresh threats from patents.

The vote passed with 431 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voting to adopt the regulation, with 201 MEPs voting against, and 29 abstentions. The regulation will now enter into force following the Presidential signature and publication in the EU Official Journal. 

The regulation creates a two-tier framework under which certain gene-edited plants (NGT-1) would be handled in much the same way as conventionally bred crops and subject to lighter regulation, whereas more complex gene-edited plants (NGT-2) would still fall under stricter, GMO-style requirements.

“Our farmers need practical solutions to adapt to climate change and remain competitive,” says Maria Panayiotou, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment of the Republic of Cyprus, which holds the Council Presidency for the second half of 2026. “These new rules give them access to innovation while ensuring clarity, fairness, and high standards across the EU.”

However, IFOAM Organics Europe and Arche Noah have issued statements warning of the new regulation’s potential impacts on food sovereignty and the erosion of consumer choice, along with the lack of NGT labeling, and the current lack of a seed patents ban.

Though patents are not banned yet, the EC says it will, within one year of the regulation’s entry into force, publish a study on patenting effects on innovation, seed availability, and sector competitiveness, and propose follow-up actions if needed.

Organic safeguards and patent concerns

IFOAM Organics Europe says it secured two safeguards. NGTs remain prohibited in organic production, and seed lots containing NGTs must be labeled so farmers can avoid planting them. 

Yet, the group says patents remain the most worrying unresolved issue. It warns that patents risk limiting access to genetic resources, increasing dependencies, and concentrating control of the food system.Cyprus Minister Maria Panayiotou says the new NGT rules support climate adaptation and EU competitiveness.

“The organic movement remains committed to producing food without GMOs and without NGTs, and will continue to engage in systemic and open-source agroecological innovation to make whole farming systems more sustainable,” says Jan Plagge, president of IFOAM Organics Europe.

“The alleged benefits of NGTs are based on pure speculation, and we urge policymakers to pay more attention to who controls the technologies they choose to deregulate, and to the impact of technologies like NGTs on European food sovereignty.”

At the same time, Euroseeds released a statement of support for the adoption of the regulations, which included signatories from 30 European agri-food value chain organizations, including Copa-Cogeca, the European Snacks Association, EuropaBio, FoodDrinkEurope, and CropLife Europe.

“The new framework provides a balanced and science-based approach that enables innovation in plant breeding while ensuring transparency, safety, and legal clarity across the agri-food value chain,” it reads.

“It creates the conditions for the development of improved crop varieties that can contribute to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing European agriculture today, including climate change, increasing weed, pest, and disease pressure, resource efficiency, and long-term food security.”

“By enabling the responsible use of NGTs, the Regulation supports a more resilient and sustainable agricultural sector and helps ensure that European farmers and breeders can access innovative tools which are already being adopted in many parts of the world,” the joint statement stresses.

A step forward for crop resilience?

Paul Grabenberger, seed policy expert at Arche Noah, states that the Parliament’s broad NGT deregulation passed without majority support for amendments. He adds that the amendment that would have curbed patents on conventionally bred or NGT plants failed in the Parliament.

Moreover, he says the vote is a missed chance to shield farmers and breeders from expanding seed patents, and argues that MEPs failed to set a clear limit on corporate control of genetic resources.Euroseeds and 30 agri-food signatories back the framework as balanced and science-based plant breeding innovation.

Grabenberger asserts that the adopted text honors neither of Parliament’s 2024 demands, which called for NGT labeling and a ban on seed patents. Arche Noah warns that patented seeds could become Europe’s norm, and cites US market concentration.

Grabenberger also notes that, according to Arche Noah’s analysis, there are roughly 2,000 NGT patent applications worldwide, including patents that cover seeds, plants, and silage. Grabenberger says such patents restrict breeders’ access to material.

On the other hand, John Murphy, the grain chair at the Irish Farmers’ Association, says the organization sees the Parliament’s decision as a step into the future that will cement Europe’s agricultural competitiveness.

“NGT will allow faster and more timely incorporation of traits which support the development of more resilient crops and plants,” Murphy emphasizes. “Perhaps most importantly, it also aligns the EU with technological and legislative breeding developments which have been available in other countries outside the EU for many years.”

“Irish tillage farmers are now more than ever reliant on producing high-yielding crops to stay financially solvent in the face of serious input cost escalation, declining direct payments and a significant loss of plant protection products,” he concludes. “However, the availability of NGT varieties will provide solutions that will help address some of the agronomic and economic challenges that our tillage growers face now and into the future.”