Report of the Committee on Biotechnological Inventions
Below is a summary of discussion points in our Biotechnology Committee (BC) since the last Q4_2003 report:
1. NGT Plants
New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) are a variety of techniques that alter the genetic material of an organism and are subject to the same rules as GMOs. The European Food Safety Authority has evaluated potential safety issues of NGTs and on January 24 adopted a position on the Commission proposal on NGTs. The proposal is to have two different categories and two sets of rules for NGT plants. NGT plants considered equivalent to conventional ones (NGT 1 plants) would be exempted from the requirements of the GMO legislation, whereas for NGT 2 plants this legislation adapts the GMO framework to those NGT plants. All NGT plants should remain prohibited in organic production as their compatibility requires further consideration. That is a quite extreme position that the European Parliament (i.e. the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)) has taken for plant patents. Following the proposal from the ENVI Committee the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the draft legislation during the upcoming 5-8 February 2024 plenary session, after which a trilogue negotiations will be take place with EU Commission and EU member states in the Council before the Regulation could be finally adopted. epi, together with other associations and companies has called on February 2 upon Members of the EU-Parliament to reconsider the proposed amendment to ban patents on NGT plants to encourage innovation and to foster competitiveness in Europe. Following the epi Board meeting of February 8, BC was requested to draft a position paper. Starting from February 28, the position paper has been distributed to the EPO Council and the EPO Working Party and also at national level with the strong support of the BC’s members in their respective countries. Finally, the BC’s Chair and Secretary have been invited to participate in an exciting new project epi is launching – an epi podcast discussing the proposed amendment to ban patents on NGT (New Genetic Technologies) plants. The recording is planned on March 22. Our aim with this podcast is to provide a platform for in-depth discussions on the potential effects of such an amendment, exploring its scientific, ethical, and socio-economic dimensions.
2. Special Biotech Committee meetings with the EPO / DG1
A meeting has been arranged with DG1 by EPPC’s chair, Chris Mercer on 27-29 February 2024 in The Hague. The meeting took place in hybrid format and BC has been invited to join the meeting. BC’s members attended in person were Kosti Vasiliki (FM), Thea van der Wijk (FM), Koen Vanhalst (FM) and Adraian George Tombling (associate member). BC proposed specific Biotech topics to be added at the agenda such as NGT plants and SEQ listings. The idea of producing a position paper by BC on the SEQ listing topic has been discussed as a support for any discussion between epi Presidium and EPO President in the next future.
3. Biotech Committees
An in-person BC is organised on 16 April, 2024 in Barcelona. Another meeting will be planned for 2024 only by Videoconference to respect the established 2024 BC’s budget.
4. Associate members
Following the first BC of the new mandate of Dec 6, 2023, a call has been sent for requesting associate members to join the BC. We received a lot of positive answers. Past associate members applied again and well as new associate members.