On 7 February 2024, the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) adopted, by way of plenary vote, a position supporting a proposal of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) to ban patents for all plants obtained by New Genome Techniques (NGT plants), plant material, parts thereof, genetic information and process features they contain.

The Standing Committees on Biotechnology and Plant Varieties and on Patents have prepared the attached Position Paper in response to this development.