The European Union’s new regulatory framework for plants obtained through certain New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) enters into force today, 16 July 2026.
Regulation (EU) 2026/1388 was published in the Official Journal on 26 June 2026. Most of its provisions will apply from 17 July 2028, giving regulators and businesses two years to prepare for the new regime.
As discussed in our previous news item on the European Parliament’s approval of the Regulation, the framework divides NGT plants into two categories.
NGT1 plants are those meeting defined criteria intended to identify genetic changes that could have arisen naturally or through conventional breeding. Once verified, they will generally be treated in the same way as conventionally bred plants and will fall outside the EU genetically modified organism (GMO) regime. Plants with herbicide-tolerance traits or traits supporting the production of a known insecticidal substance cannot qualify as NGT1 plants.
