According to a legislative proposal by the European Commission, many genetically modified products may eventually end up unlabeled on the shelves of European supermarkets, the dpa agency reported on Friday, citing Agerpres.

Genetically modified tomatoes (conceptual image)Photo: Chih Yuan Ronnie Wu / Alamy / Profimedia Images

The Commission’s proposal has not yet been published, but its draft can be viewed by the German press agency.

The legislative proposal would exempt certain genetically modified plants from the EU’s strict rules on genetic engineering.

According to dpa, the proposal will be officially presented in July. The planned regulatory changes mean that processes such as CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing will not be subject to genetic engineering rules, as long as the resulting varieties can also be created through processes such as hybridization or natural selection.

CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing allows geneticists to make precise changes to long strands of DNA to make plants more resistant to drought and pests.

According to the plans, such changes belong to the so-called category of plants grown with the help of new genomic techniques (NGT).

According to the planned regulations, strict genetic engineering rules for organic farming will continue to apply, dpa notes.