b'POLICY DEVELOPMENTS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD (09/2019)Canada: Product basedRussia: decree for R&D program approach; ongoingEurope: ECJ decision callsclarifying that conventional-like discussions to improveall mutagenesis GMOgenome editing products are not system and subject to EU GMOregulated as GMOregulationUS: Proposed new USDA policy excludes certain techniques; ExecutiveChina: China unofficial GMO-lite Order on ModernizingproposalRegulatory Framework for BiotechnologyJapan: excluding certain edited Israel: Guidance that specificproducts (Korea likely to follow)techniques are outside GMO Argentina, Chile, Brazil,scopeParaguay Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala: Case-by-caseAustralia: Revised gene tech approach, excluding certainregulation exclude some geneNZ: High Court decision that edited products (El Salvadorediting applications a few specific techniques likely to follow) are GMOPOSITIVE DECISIONNO FORMAL DECISIONRESTRICTIVE DECISIONGlobal overview on regulatory approaches implemented or discussed in different countries (Status September 2019). In green: countries that exempt certain plants resulting from targeted mutagenesis breeding from their biotech regulations; in yellow: countries that started discussions, but did not take decisions yet on their policy approaches for plants resulting from new breeding methods; red: countries in which court rulings interpreted established GMO regulations in way that these also apply to all plants resulting from targeted mutagenesis breeding methods, even if these plants are indistinguishable from conventionally bred plants.of an organism and which have emergedinvolved in research and breeding filled inas laid out in the LMO-definition of the or have been developed since 2001the questionnaire. The preliminary dataCartagena Protocol. in plants, animals, microorganisms orshows that all large companies and moreDiffering regulatory requirements will for medicinal purposes. In the contextthan 80% of the medium sized companieslimit the capacity of the industry to inno-of this study the EU Commission hashave R&D activities with new breedingvate. It will also reduce the availability of started stakeholder consultation to whichmethods. The share of small companiesgenetic resources for breeding and have Euroseeds is contributing. active in R&D with new breeding meth- a negative effect on research collabora-To contribute to the stakeholder con- ods is close to 50%.In addition to usingtions as well as hinder the movement of sultation with substantiated data from thethe data for the stakeholder consultation,seed globally. Enforcement issues, like EU breeding sector, Euroseeds startedEuroseeds intends to publish the consoli- the ones mentioned above are likely to an internal survey to gather informationdated findings in a scientific journal. increase because seeds and commodi-about the seeds sectors activities withties developed with the aid of some of the NGTs. The survey covers three aspects: Can Europe Afford to be Leftlatest plant breeding methods may be 1. Current activities of breeding compa- Behind? indistinguishable from those derived from nies in view of R&D and product develop- Currently, there is a trend towards atraditional plant breeding methods or ment with new breeding methods. global harmonization of regulatorynaturally occurring genetic variation. 2. Future potential of new breedingoversight when it comes to the prod- A harmonized scope of regulatory methods for breeding companies. ucts of new breeding methods includingoversight would accommodate current 3. Effect of the ECJ ruling on mutagen- genome editing. Most countries whichscientific progress and help addressing esis breeding for breeding companies. already implemented or discussed newsignificant global challenges like climate The responsiveness of Euroseedsor updated policies follow the princi- change and food security in a timely members to the survey was very high.ple approach that products including amanner.SWMore than 90% of our direct membersnovel combination of genetic material 66/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2020'