Cabinet decides to limit GM seed imports with sunset clause

The federal interim cabinet has decided to introduce a sunset clause to the Pakistan Biosafety Rules, 2005/guidelines, to reduce the import bill of genetically modified (GM) soybean and canola seed, which are used for edible oil and poultry feed production in the country. 

The decision is being taken after the per year import bill of genetically modified (GM) soybean and canola seed crossed the $1 billion mark.

A sunset clause is a provision that terminates or repeals a law or regulation after a specified period of time unless it is reauthorised by the legislature. 

The cabinet has authorised the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination to add an appropriate sunset clause, in consultation with the Law and Justice Division, to the proposed amendments in the Pakistan Biosafety Rules, 2005.

The decision was taken in the previous meeting of the cabinet, when the minutes of the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases (CCLC) of November 14, 2023 were prepared for ratification. 

The amendments in the rules had been proposed on the advice of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R), which is working on developing a policy to promote local production of edible oil and poultry feed. 

The Ministry for National Food Security stated that it was in the process of notifying proper standards in the form of an "Agriculture Bio-Technology Policy" to ensure that reliance on imported food items was minimized.