China: Agriculture GMOs Safety Assessment Administrative Measures Finalized

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) released MARA Decree [2022] No. 2, announcing the revised Administrative Measures for the Safety Assessment of Agricultural GMOs. The finalized Measures, which were previously notified to the WTO under (SPS N CHN 1241), came into force on January 21, 2022. The Measures change the nature of biosafety assessments from being on a “crop variety and event” basis to solely on an “event” basis. The change facilitates variety registration of genetically engineered (GE) crop varieties for domestic cultivation and provides for the biosafety assessment of GE crops containing “stacked” traits. This report provides an unofficial translation of MARA Decree [2022] No. 2.