Vietnam proposes looser rules for gene-edited crops

Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has proposed changes to the country’s biosafety framework that would exempt certain gene-edited organisms from regulation as genetically modified organisms, a move that could reduce approval hurdles for plant breeders and agricultural biotechnology companies.

The draft decree would amend Decree 69/2010 on biosafety for GMOs as part of a broader overhaul of Vietnam’s biodiversity and nature conservation rules. The changes are designed to align with a revised Biodiversity Law currently under review by the National Assembly and tentatively scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026 .

At the core of the proposal is a new legal distinction between traditional GMOs and gene-edited organisms that do not contain foreign DNA. The draft introduces formal definitions for “genetic technology” and “gene-edited organisms,” describing the latter as organisms altered through gene-editing techniques without the introduction of genetic material from another species or artificial synthesis.

Under the proposed framework, such gene-edited organisms would be eligible for a self-declaration process exempting them from existing GMO regulatory requirements. Developers would submit documentation to the ministry confirming the absence of foreign DNA, rather than undergoing the full biosafety approval process applied to transgenic crops.

Industry stakeholders, however, have raised concerns about how the self-declaration process would work in practice. Templates included in the draft require detailed disclosures on genetic techniques and analysis, and their labeling does not clearly distinguish between GMOs and gene-edited organisms, potentially creating uncertainty over compliance obligations .

The draft decree also proposes procedural changes affecting GMO approvals more broadly. Review timelines for food and feed use applications would be shortened, with the biosafety committee’s evaluation period reduced to 140 days from 180 days and the ministry’s final approval window cut to 10 days from 30 days. The proposal also formalizes a multi-step field trial process for GMO risk assessments, requiring confined trials over two seasons followed by large-scale trials across multiple locations.

Vietnam notified the draft measures to the World Trade Organization in November, signaling an effort to increase transparency as it recalibrates its biotechnology rules. If adopted as proposed, the changes would move Vietnam closer to regulatory approaches used in several other markets that treat certain gene-edited crops differently from conventional GMOs.

For exporters and technology developers, the revised framework could lower regulatory costs and shorten approval timelines, though the commercial impact will depend on how the self-declaration system is implemented once the decree is finalized.