Resolution on the draft Commission Implementing Decision authorising the placing on the market of food, food ingredients and feed produced from genetically modified sugar beet KWS20-1 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council

The European Parliament adopted, by 455 votes to 169, with 8 abstentions, a resolution objecting to the draft Commission Implementing Decision authorising the placing on the market of food, food ingredients and feed produced from genetically modified sugar beet KWS20-1 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

On 30 May 2023, Bayer Agriculture B.V., based in Belgium, on behalf of Bayer CropScience LP, based in the United States, and KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, based in Germany, submitted an application to the national competent authority of the Netherlands for the placing on the market of food, food ingredients and feed produced from genetically modified sugar beet KWS20-1 (GM sugar beet), in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003.

EFSA issued a favourable scientific opinion on 12 May 2025, concluding that the GM sugar beet is as safe as its conventional counterparts.

The genetically modified sugar beet was developed to confer tolerance to glyphosate-, dicamba-and glufosinate-ammonium-based herbicides.

Lack of assessment

Those opinions did not address several broader environmental, socio-economic, and cumulative impacts which EFSA considers to fall outside its remit. The risk assessments carried out by EFSA did not include long-term toxicological studies or detailed analysis of cumulative and combinatorial effects, including potential interactions with residues of pesticides commonly used in maize cultivation. Field trials supporting the application were conducted under limited geographical and climatic conditions, only in the United States, that do not represent the full diversity of sugar beet-growing regions, including those strongly affected by climate change-related stressors.

According to the resolution, independent monitoring and surveillance of potential adverse effects on biodiversity, soil health, pollinators and non-target organisms remain insufficiently guaranteed.

Furthermore, EU authorisation of the GM sugar beet would not be consistent with international commitments on pesticide reduction, given the increased human, animal and environmental exposure to glyphosate, dicamba and glufosinate in countries which grow this herbicide-tolerant GM crop, along with the potentially serious associated health outcomes. The Commission implementing decision would continue to allow imports into the Union that do not comply with the standards observed by Union farmers, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage.

Parliament has repeatedly stressed that the Commission should not authorise GMOs in cases where no qualified majority is reached by Member States in the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed or the Appeal Committee, in order to address the persistent democratic deficit.

Recommendations

Based on these considerations, Parliament considered that the Commission's implementing decision exceeds the implementing powers provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 and that it is not consistent EU law. Consequently, it called on the Commission to:

- withdraw its implementing decision;

- not to renew the authorisation of the GM maize due to the lack of sufficient evidence on long-term impacts on biodiversity, food safety, farmers’ livelihoods and animal health, in line with the One Health approach;

- submit, without delay, a legislative proposal to reform the decision-making procedure on GMOs in order to respond to the consistent objections of Parliament and the lack of qualified majority support among Member States;

- take into account the Union’s obligations under international agreements, such as the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.