19.06.2026
EU takes the lead - Switzerland is caught offside
Dear readers
Switzerland, Singapore, and Hong Kong were named the world’s most competitive economies in the latest IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR). SECO is also celebrating: “For 15 years, Switzerland has topped the global innovation rankings.” So, is everything going well in the land of inventors, tinkerers, and researchers? No! Because Switzerland, the complacent world champion of innovation, is being overtaken - of all places - by the EU in Brussels when it comes to a future technology like genome editing.
Switzerland ranks first in innovation performance among the world’s nearly 140 economies, according to Switzerland Global Enterprise, citing the 2025 Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). However, this top ranking is not a sure thing, and the lead is slowly eroding, as SECO notes - albeit somewhat cautiously - in its celebratory announcement. Genome editing in plants provides a case in point. Since June 17, 2026, Switzerland has fallen even further behind in this area, as the EU—following the UK’s lead—has now also adapted its regulations to scientific reality. It is a step that Switzerland has so far been waiting for in vain.
After all, the facts have long been clear: So-called genome-edited plants, into which no foreign DNA has been inserted, cannot be distinguished from plants that have arisen naturally or through conventional breeding. They are therefore identical as products and differ only in how they were created.
Genome editing - the targeted modification of specific sections of a plant’s genetic material - is a more precise form of plant breeding. These interventions in the genome are far less extensive than those involved in random breeding, known as classical mutagenesis, in which plants are exposed to radioactive radiation or chemical treatments so that the strongest plants can be selected for further breeding. This form of genetic engineering, which is also permitted in Switzerland, has led to the development of thousands of plant varieties over the past decades—varieties that we now take for granted and that even appear on our plates with an organic label.
Compared to this brutal treatment, gene scissors - that is, precise intervention through genome editing - seem downright gentle. Furthermore, according to broad scientific consensus, genome-edited plants are considered safe for humans and the environment. Accordingly, such plants and the foods produced from them are already approved for cultivation and trade in numerous countries.
Those are the facts.
At the political level, these findings had not yet been translated into concrete legislation, either in the EU or in Switzerland. This has now changed since June 17, 2026 - but unfortunately only in the EU: After three years of intensive negotiations, the European Parliament voted in favor of liberalizing modern plant breeding. Swedish MEP Jessica Polfjärd put it aptly in the Council: “We cannot afford to tackle tomorrow’s challenges with yesterday’s tools.” She added: “Today we are writing history.”
In the future, genome-edited plants, provided they do not contain foreign DNA (so-called NGT-1), are to be treated largely in the same way as conventional plants: Although seed must be labelled as so-called NGT-1 to enable farmers to make an informed decision, there is no longer a labelling requirement for food and feed. Plants with more complex modifications, however, will remain subject to existing genetic engineering regulations.
What sounds like a simple step is actually a quantum leap, given the long and fraught history of genetically modified plant breeding. The EU has finally established a regulatory framework that is based on evidence rather than ideology. This is thanks to close cooperation and coordination between breeders’ and farmers’ associations.
The new legal framework offers a balanced, science-based approach that enables innovation in plant breeding while ensuring transparency and legal certainty throughout the entire value chain of the agri-food sector. It lays the groundwork for the development of improved plant varieties. These can help address the key challenges facing European agriculture, including climate change and increasing pressure from weeds, pests, and diseases. They can also improve resource efficiency and strengthen long-term food security.
It is therefore no surprise that Copa Cogeca, the largest advocacy group for European farmers, also expressly welcomes the regulation. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect: The current drought and heat wave pose a huge challenge for Swiss farmers, as SRF reported just one day after the EU decision. In the future, we will need all the tools at our disposal. This includes, for example, the method known as TEgenesis, which makes it possible to breed stress-resistant plants but has not yet been approved.
Opponents fought to the very end to prevent liberalization: both in the preliminary review committee and in Parliament, they tried to derail the process with a steady stream of new motions. Their strategy was to use a flood of individual motions to send the entire liberalization effort back to square one and thus delay the process.
This strategy failed—and yet it is telling. For we will likely see exactly the same pattern play out in Switzerland as well. Those who cannot objectively and convincingly reject a technology try to slow it down by introducing additional complexity: “increasing complexity” as a strategy to sow uncertainty. It is worth calling this maneuver out for what it is before it is trotted out again here.
After all, the debate over how to deal with advances in plant breeding will soon be back on the agenda in Switzerland as well. In this country, we had actually already gone further than the EU. In 2022, Parliament called on the Federal Council to outline how the new methods could be applied in Switzerland as well. But since then, the issue has been addressed in a rather half-hearted manner: The Federal Council’s draft for public comment was so tentative and impractical that one is justified in doubting its commitment to liberalization. The EU decision is now increasing the pressure—not only because government-funded research in Switzerland continues to lose ground without a level playing field, but also because the question is rapidly arising in international trade as to how Switzerland intends to handle the import of genome-edited food and feed. Unsurprisingly, opponents of genetic engineering in Switzerland have also spoken out following the EU decision, referring to it as a “danger.”
However, the real danger lies elsewhere: namely, that Switzerland will fall behind. For once, the following holds true: Aligning with Brussels means embarking on the path to progress. And to sustainably secure the top position we’ve come to cherish, we should read the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR) in its entirety. It goes on to state: “Government efficiency is becoming a cornerstone of long-term resilience. Efficiency encompasses agility, inclusivity, and a forward-looking policy framework.” That speaks for itself!
Your swiss-food editorial team
