To gain insights into the current legislation and policy with regard to biotechnology, we contacted Rob Duba, a senior policy officer on Biotechnology at the Department of I&M. We learned that both the license for working with GMOs and notification at Bureau GGO is publicly available. If our biosensor is deemed restricted use, it is necessary for the company to have earned a license for working with GMOs and to have a Biosafety Officer no matter what. Unfortunately up to this moment, no GMO biosensor exists that was not categorized for restricted use. Only in the case that the biosensor gets an EU market approval (in Dutch: EU Markttoelating), which basically allows GMOs that are deemed safe to be released in nature, a company using it is not obliged to get a license.
