Europe just rewrote the rules for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs)

On 17 June 2026, the European Parliament adopted the ‘'Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed, and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/625’, closing a two-decade chapter in which gene-edited plants were held to a framework written before these techniques existed.

It's a milestone worth celebrating — and a new beginning for the future of food. Europe is now a meaningful step closer to leading, rather than importing, the next generation of agriculture.

What this NGT Regulation actually changes

The regulation splits NGT plants into two categories:

NGT 1: equivalent to conventional plants with no foreign DNA and a limited number of edits that could also have arisen through conventional breeding. After a verification procedure, these follow a streamlined pathway and are treated like conventionally bred varieties.

NGT 2: more complex modifications remain under existing EU GMO legislation, with an adapted risk assessment, authorisation, traceability and labelling requirements. Member States may also opt out of cultivating NGT-2 plants.

Why this matters for European agriculture

For breeders and farmers, the new rules are designed to:

🌾 Give faster access to crops bred for climate stress, pest and disease resistance, and lower pesticide and fertiliser needs.

🌱 Lower the barrier to market for resilient, higher-yielding varieties that are faster to grow at a lower cost, benefitting smaller producers

Hudson River Biotechnology is already ahead of the curve

We engineered our DNA-free protoplast method not to fit these regulations, but because it's the best way to directly integrate into exisiting breeding pipelines of tomorrow’s crops for a future-fit food system. Finally, science and policy are converging on the same answer.

Because our method introduces no foreign DNA, it immediately sits within the NGT-1 pathway established by the regulation.

The floor, not the ceiling

This is a real shot at building the tools needed to meet climate stress, pest pressure, and food insecurity globally. Eight years in the making and a foundation that Europe's breeders, farmers and food sector can finally build on.