No, they weren't able to determine whether this was a seed with a novel trait. All seeds with a novel trait have to go through the approval process.
It's worth keeping in mind that nowhere else in the world was there a regulatory body that thought this needed to go through an approval process. Japan itself, which has a very stringent system, one of the stickiest, didn't view this as needing a special review. Canada couldn't decide. It's why we need clearer guidelines.