In February 2018, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of a ‘Draft Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) Resolution establishing the procedure applicable to a cultivar where innovative plant breeding techniques deriving from modern biotechnology have been used at some stage of the plant-breeding process, and the end product does not contain foreign genetic material.^[1],[2]

The resolution foresees a case-by-case consultation process, under which an applicant submits a dossier to the ICA, and the ‘ICA shall carry out an assessment of the information received within a period no longer than sixty (60) working days, determining whether the new crop contains any foreign genetic material inserted in its genome due to the use of modern biotechnology techniques. For a genetic change to be considered as foreign genetic material, it shall be analyzed whether a stable and joint exogenous insertion has been produced in one (1) or more genes or DNA sequences forming part of a specific genetic construction.’ (Whelan & Lema, 2019).

[1] Website: Human and Agriculture Gene Editing: Regulations and Index – Colombia: Crops / Food (accessed: 1^st March 2023)

[2] Website: WTO, G/SPS/N/COL/282, 26 February 2018, Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Notification (accessed: 1^st March 2023)