BIA submission to EFRA Animal and Plant Health inquiry

The BIA has responded to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee’s inquiry into Animal and Plant Health, which is examining the potential for a UK–EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. SPS regulations aim to protect human, animal, and plant health while facilitating trade.

We support closer UK–EU alignment to strengthen trade and reduce barriers for biotech companies. However, our submission highlights that precision breeding should remain a strategic exception:

• The Precision Breeding Act is a globally competitive framework that supports innovation, investment, and sustainability in agricultural biotechnology.
• Dynamic alignment with EU regulations could jeopardise the UK’s leadership in precision breeding and undermine the progress already made.
• Safeguarding the UK’s regulatory divergence on precision breeding is essential in the short term to deliver societal, economic, and environmental benefits.
• Long-term, the UK should work with the EU to encourage a more pro-innovation approach to gene editing regulation, ensuring harmonisation that enables trade and supports innovation.

Maintaining this balance will allow the UK to deepen trade with the EU while protecting its position as a leader in agricultural biotechnology.