When authorisation is sought for a technique that modifies a procedure on the list mentioned in Article L. 2141-1 , the Director General of the Agence de la biomédecine refers the matter to the Agency’s Orientation Board. The latter gives a reasoned opinion on the nature and interest of the proposed modification and assesses in particular, in the light of the technical dossier for the process for which the modification is envisaged and the information provided by the applicant, whether it is an improvement to an existing process or a new process. In particular, any modification which introduces an additional critical step or additional manipulation of gametes, germinal tissue or embryos compared with the existing process constitutes a new process.