FAQs - Subcommittee for Release of Agriculture-related GMOs

The GMAC Release Subcommittee has been tasked specifically to: To draft revisions of the Singapore Guidelines on the Release of Agriculture-Related GMOs, when necessary, for GMAC’s approval;

- To designate the various agencies (ie. AVA, NEA, MOH, NParks) to implement the Guidelines using
  their existing legislation;
- To assess the risks associated with the release of agriculture-related GMOs or recommend to GMAC
  to appoint an expert panel if necessary;
- To make recommendations to GMAC on the approval for release of agriculture-related GMOs;
- To monitor the control of release of agriculture-related GMOs in the environment by the relevant
  agency.

The Release Subcommittee scientifically reviews applications involving the intentional release of GMOs into the environment for purpose of planting/commercial sale and provide its findings to the relevant authorities for their considerations for the (GMO) final approval.

For information regarding the type of information to be submitted, you may wish to refer to Appendix 1 Questionnaire for Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Related to Agriculture of the Singapore Guidelines on the Release of Agriculture-Related GMOs. The Guidelines can be found here.

The time taken to evaluate each application differs from case to case. This is mainly due to the varying number of rounds of clarifications required by the Subcommittee regarding each individual application.

The number of rounds of clarifications required differs from case to case. On average, the number of clarifications required for individual assessment ranges between two and three.