Section 24 GenTG no longer applies - obligation to pay costs for non-profit research institutions

As of October 1, 2021, the law updating the structural reform of federal fee law also changed the fee provisions of the Genetic Engineering Act (GenTG), which some of you may have already noticed. The change was limited to the complete deletion of Section 24 GenTG in its old version. Previously, this regulation regulated not only the obligation to pay fees and the authority to issue regulations, but also the exemption of research institutions recognized as non-profit organizations. This has now been abolished under federal law with the amendment. In order to maintain reimbursement between the federal government and the states with regard to the work of the Central Commission for Biological Safety, Paragraph 6 GenTG has now been added to Section 4 GenTG, according to which the states must reimburse the commission for the expenses incurred in the notification, registration, and approval procedures. The costs are determined on a case-by-case basis and can be determined either according to fixed rates or framework rates. The operator's own expenses incurred in the approval and monitoring procedures are still not reimbursable (Section 25 (6a) of the Genetic Engineering Act). This, too, was previously regulated in Section 24 of the Genetic Engineering Act (old version), which, like the Federal Cost Ordinance under the Genetic Engineering Act, has been completely repealed. This means that large research institutions, in addition to universities, will now also be subject to fees unless other regulations are created at the state level. Whether this will happen and thus create a patchwork and different competitive conditions in the international research landscape is uncertain. Currently, the respective administrative fee regulations of the individual states apply with regard to costs; for example, in North Rhine-Westphalia, the General Administrative Fee Regulations (AVwerwGebO NR) apply . Costs for genetic engineering work and genetic engineering facilities can be found under tariff item 27.