UK's Precision Breeding Act for Plants Signed into Law

The United Kingdom's Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025 has been passed into law by Minister of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Daniel Zeichner MP.

The Precision Breeding Regulations 2025 is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in new breeding technologies (NBTs), ensuring that England becomes a world leader in agri-food innovation while reinforcing food security and sustainability. Precision Breeding Regulations 2025 is based on a two-tier approach. Businesses first apply to Defra for a "marketing notice" to market the precision-bred organism (PBO). Subsequently, they apply to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for food and feed marketing authorization. All applicants conduct a "Tier 1" safety assessment, evaluating the PBO's history of safe food use, compositional changes (nutrition, toxicity, allergenicity), and other safety concerns.

In early 2025, secondary legislation was laid before Parliament to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023. The new regulations offer an important step towards the innovation and commercial availability of precision-bred plants. This new legislation brings England more into line with the regulatory approaches taken by most countries outside of the EU, including Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, the USA, and Japan.

For more details, read the press releases from John Innes Centre and Earlham Institute. The transcript of the debate in the UK Parliament is available here.