British parliamentary library provides a good briefing on precision breeding

Quotation from Sarah Coe August 2022.

International approaches [to regulation of precision breeding]:

The EU is planning changes to its regulatory regime. A recent EU study on the status of New Genomic Techniques questioned whether current EU regulations are fit for purpose. The European Commission has responded by launching a public consultation on the future regulation of gene editing techniques in EU crop production, with the intention of introducing proposals for a new legal framework in 2023.[Ref 28] The European Commission’s consultation is on a proposal to create a legal framework for plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis (the production of genetic mutations) and cisgenesis (where genes are artificially transferred between organisms that could otherwise be conventionally bred) and for their food and feed products. This aims to bring legislation in line with modern techniques. The Commission stated that the planned regulation aimed to maintain a high level of protection for human and animal health and the environment and would “enable innovation in the agri-food system and contribute to the goals of the European Green Deal”. The consultation closes on 22 July 2022 with adoption of the proposal planned for the second quarter of 2023.[Ref 29]

The Government published information on international regimes for regulating GMOs in the Impact Assessment published with the Bill. [Ref 30] It said that progress on GE technology globally was moving ahead of the UK and the EU:

Both UK and EU innovation in this space has stalled under the current regulatory regime compared to world leaders; only 4.8% of world patents in CRISPR-related agriculture [Ref 31] down from 5.9% in 2017. [Ref 32]

The IA cited Argentina as a model for a more “risk-proportionate regulation” that differentiated between GMOs and organisms produced by genetic technologies which could have been produced by traditional breeding. Canada bases its regulations on the properties of the organism, not on the technology by which it is produced. As the website Global Gene Editing Regulation Tracker notes:

Canada takes a unique stance on gene editing by regulating any products that contain novel traits, including gene edited animals, regardless of the process (e.g. conventional breeding, mutagenesis, transgenesis or gene editing) used to develop the product. Any animals that contain novel traits require environmental and safety assessments to be approved. Most mutagenic products currently being developed are not considered organisms with novel traits, and it is likely that this will also be the case for most gene edited organisms, which will therefore be regulated as conventional.[Ref 33]

From page 18-19 of Sarah Coe 2020 Commons Library Research Briefing 10 August 2022  Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill 2022-23.  UK House of Commons Library CPB 9557

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9557/

Reference citations

28 Defra, Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill Factsheet 1 – Overview, May 2022 [pdf]

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0011/FactsheetGenetic.pdf 

29 European Commission: Legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques, 29 April 2022

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13119-Legislation-for-plants-produced-by-certain-new-genomic-techniques_en

30 Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill Impact Assessment [pdf]

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0011/ImpactAssessmentGeneticTechnology(PrecisionBreeding)Bill.pdf

31 CRISPR (short for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”) is used to selectively modify the DNA of living organisms. CRISPR/Cas9 has two essential components: a guide RNA to match a desired target gene, and Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9)—an endonuclease which causes a double-stranded DNA break, allowing modifications to the genome

32 Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill Impact Assessment [pdf], p10 (Box 2)

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0011/ImpactAssessmentGeneticTechnology(PrecisionBreeding)Bill.pdf

33 Global Gene Editing Regulation Tracker, Canada [Accessed 31 May 2022]

https://crispr-gene-editing-regs-tracker.geneticliteracyproject.org/canada-animals/