Semence

In June, the European Parliament adopted a regulation on new genetic modification techniques (NGTs). Contrary to the demands of several civil society organisations – notably farmers’ groups, but also MEPs – the text does not ban patents on products derived from these NGTs. However, experience in the US shows that the strengthening of intellectual property rights over seeds has been accompanied by a general rise in their prices – particularly those of genetically modified seeds – and by increased concentration within the sector. This trend could also occur in Europe and, in the long term, have an impact on food prices.

The adoption of the future European regulation on plant reproductive material, known as the ‘seeds regulation’, has entered its final stages. The ‘provisional compromise’ is presented as a modernisation of the current legislation. Among other things, it extends the market for conservation varieties across the entire European Union and regulates the non-commercial exchange of seeds between farmers. However, this compromise has not achieved consensus. Whilst the peasant farmers’ organisation ECVC is calling for its rejection, organisations defending cultivated biodiversity welcome some of the progress made. The seed industry and the mainstream agricultural unions, for their part, welcome a framework that reinforces the current market organisation.