EURO BIOTECH REGS TO BE AMENDED

The European Commission has announced that a number of regulations relating to the biotechnology industry are to be amended. Commission President Jacques delors said last week in Brussels that two significant directives concerning genetic engineering will be changed by the early part of next year.

The announcement follows a vigorous campaign by the biotechnology industry against what it sees as over-regulation by the Commission of its operations, which it claims delays the introduction onto the market of new products and technologies by as much as 18 months. Excessive bureaucracy has also forced biotechnology companies to abandon their operations in European Union countries, particularly Germany, it adds, and relocate outside Europe, most frequently in the USA.