New genomic techniques for plant breeding

Plant breeding

For thousands of years, humans have sought to improve their plants to ensure they have safe and nutritious sources of food. It started out with the simple act of selecting the strongest, most flavourful or most productive crops.

In the mid-19^th century, Gregor Mendel established the principles of inheritance underlying the cross-breeding of plants – a technique that involved combining the characteristics of two different plants from the same species. Cross-breeding techniques have evolved over centuries.

Plants and their ancestors

Many plants cultivated today are very different from their wild ancestors.

Aubergine

Cauliflower

Bananas

A safeguard for food security

New plant-breeding techniques have the potential to contribute to sustainable agri-food systems and help respond to challenges such as global food insecurity and climate change, with benefits for farmers, consumers and the environment. With the new methods, the use of pesticides could be reduced and plants with fewer allergens could be developed.

New genomic techniques (NGTs) can help breed plants which:

are climate-resilient or pest-resistant
require fewer fertilisers and pesticides
can ensure higher yields
use water and other natural resources more efficiently

Examples of plants obtained with new genomic techniques

Low-gluten wheat

Pathogen-resistant potato

Drought-tolerant maize

Why does the EU need new rules?

Gene-editing techniques are regulated in the EU by the genetic modification (GMO) legislation, which includes a number of legislative acts.

Currently, plants obtained with new genomic techniques fall under the GMO legislation, according to a ruling of the European Court of Justice from 2018.

However, unlike GMO plants, plants bred using new genomic techniques can be very similar or even identical to products generated with conventional breeding techniques, or even to plants occurring naturally.

NGT plants containing foreign genetic material continue to be regulated under the GMO legislation. The new EU rules aim to give legal clarity on new breeding methods that do not use foreign DNA.

They aim to contribute to the goals of the European Green Deal and the 'farm to fork' strategy, biodiversity, adaptation to climate change, global food security and the bioeconomy.

By regulating plant breeding, the EU aims to make the sector safe, transparent, effective and competitive.

Breeding techniques and EU legislation

There are three main techniques for breeding plants.

Conventional breeding techniques

Established genetic modification (GMO) techniques

New genomic techniques (NGT)

Two pea plants with a multiplier sign in the middle. One plant is light green with three leaves, the other is dark green with two leaves.

Two varieties of a plant species are crossed multiple times to get a plant with the desired traits (cross-breeding). Nowadays, the process is accelerated with chemicals or radiation (mutation breeding or mutagenesis).

Two different plants with a DNA symbol in the middle. A piece of DNA from one plant is inserted into the DNA of the other plant.

The genetic material of a plant is altered in a way that does not occur naturally by crossing or natural recombination, sometimes with foreign DNA (transgenic breeding or transgenesis).

One plant with a DNA symbol next to it. A circle zooms into the DNA and an arrow points to a targeted place inside the circle.

The genome of a plant is modified at a selected targeted location (targeted mutagenenis) or a sequence from the same species or a closely related species is inserted (cisgenesis).

Here is how EU legislation applies:

conventional breeding: outside the scope of the EU GMO legislation
genetic modification: regulated under the EU GMO legislation
new genomic techniques: to be regulated under the new NGT rules, in combination with the GMO legislation if applicable

Rules for new genomic techniques in practice

On 4 December, the Council has reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a set of rules that establish a legal framework for new genomic techniques.

With the new rules, the EU will provide:

greater safety
more transparency and improved labelling
enhanced innovation

The rules would require all NGT plants to be listed in a public database and banned from organic production.

In addition, two categories of plants would be established:

category 1: plants equivalent to conventionally bred or naturally mutated plants
category 2: plants with more complex modifications

Different rules would apply to each category.

Category 1 plants

The rules would regulate:

placing on the market: before a plant or a product derived from NGT was deliberately released or placed on the market, national authorities and the European Commission would verify whether it belonged to category 1
labelling: seeds and other reproductive material would have to have a label identifying them as NGT in origin; plants would not need to be labelled
traits: herbicide-tolerant plants would be excluded from category 1
patenting: companies or breeders would have to submit information on all existing or pending patents; an expert group would be created to study the impact of patents on NGT plants; and the European Commission would publish a study on the impact of patenting on innovation, access to patented NGT plants, and the competitiveness of the EU’s plant breeding sector.

These plants would be exempted from the GMO legislation. Instead, existing EU legislation on food and feed, novel foods, nature conservation and environmental liability would apply.

EU countries could take measures to ensure that category 1 plants are not unintentionally present in organic farming on their territory.

Category 2 plants

The rules would regulate:

placing on the market: before a plant or a product derived from NGT was deliberately released or placed on the market, national authorities and the European Commission would have to authorise its use; this would include risk and safety assessments
labelling: authorised category 2 products would have to bear a label, which might give information about the traits that resulted from the genetic modification; if the producer included the traits on the label, all of them would have to be listed
incentives: regulatory incentives could be offered to producers of plants with traits that could improve sustainability, such as more efficient use of water or resistance to diseases or climate change conditions, except for plants containing herbicide-tolerant traits

Category 2 plants would have to comply with the existing GMO legislation, adapted by the rules on new genomic techniques, to cater for the diverse risk profiles of those plants.

EU countries could take measures to ensure that category 2 plants were not unintentionally present in non-NGT products. They could also restrict or prohibit the cultivation of category 2 plants on their territory.

Next steps

The Council has adopted the new rules on 21 April 2026.

The text still needs to be formally adopted by the European Parliament. Once adopted, the regulation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Most provisions will apply after a 24-month transition period, allowing time to adopt implementing rules. The new framework is expected to apply from mid-2028.

One year after the entry into force of the regulation, the Commission will publish a study on the impact of patenting on innovation, on the availability of seeds to farmers and on the competitiveness of the EU plant breeding sector. The Commission will then indicate what follow-up measures are needed or publish a legislative proposal to address any issues found in the study.