China: Agricultural Biotechnology Annual
On January 8, 2019, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) announced approval of five new biotech traits in imported crops for processing, the first new approvals since June 2017. In June 2018 and November 2018, the National Bio-Safety Committee (NBC) was convened where China reviewed new events and the applications for certificate renewals. Also in 2018, MARA amended the regulations on safety assessment, import approval, and labeling of agricultural “GMOs” without notifying the changes to the World Trade Organization (WTO) nor soliciting comments from stakeholders. The revised rules impose additional in-country trials and studies on new biotech events as part of the dossier submission process. While research on conventional biotechnology continues in China, the Chinese Government is developing policies on genome editing and monitoring the development of policy in foreign countries, including the United States.
