Exempt dealings are a category of dealings with GMOs that have been assessed over time as posing a very low risk (i.e. contained research involving very well understood organisms and processes for creating and studying GMOs). The only legislative requirement for exempt dealings is that they must not involve an intentional release of a GMO into the environment.
Exempt dealings are described in Parts 1 & 2 of Schedule 2 of the Gene Technology Regulations 2001 (the Regulations).
Exempt dealings do not require a specified level of containment. The Regulator has released Guidance Notes for the Containment of Exempt Dealings, that are effectively equivalent to those for facilities certified by the Regulator to Physical Containment Level 1 (PC1). These notes are provided as guidance only to persons conducting exempt dealings pursuant to regulation 6 of the Regulations as currently in force and/or pursuant to any applicable corresponding law. They may be of assistance to organisations or persons in determining how to undertake exempt dealings to satisfy themselves with regard to avoiding intentional release. Please note that these guidance notes are not Guidelines for Certification of a PC1 Facility.
There are no requirements to report exempt dealings to the Regulator and exempt dealings are not included in the GMO Record.