Twenty-four organisations representing thousands of operators across Europe’s agri-food chain have issued an urgent call to the European Commission ahead of the upcoming trilogue negotiations on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). While the Commission’s Vision for Agriculture and Food recognises the sector’s essential economic role, employing over 30 million people and contributing EUR 900 billion in 2022, the signatories warn that increasing complexity, delays, and administrative burdens in EU risk assessment processes are weakening Europe’s competitiveness and discouraging innovation.
The organisations, which include food and feed producers and ingredient suppliers directly affected by EFSA’ s scientific outputs, stress that regulatory simplification and streamlined procedures are critical to accelerating access to innovation, including NGTs, and ensuring that Europe remains attractive for investment. They highlight the ongoing EFSA Performance Evaluation as a key opportunity to improve efficiency, reinforce science-based assessments, and reduce disproportionate burdens introduced by the Transparency Regulation.
Their joint letter outlines persistent challenges, from lengthy timelines and limited pre-submission advice to expanding procedural requirements and insufficient integration of new methodologies, and calls on the Commission to deliver decisive reforms that restore predictability, strengthen EFSA’ s performance, and support a future-ready, resilient EU agri-food sector.
