FoE Europe - GMOs

Traceability & Labelling of GMOs

Latest update: 12.10.05

Following the vote in the European Parliament on 2nd July 2003; the EU Council of Ministers adopted, on 22nd July, a new EU Regulation concerning traceability and labelling of Genetically Modified Organisms (Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003). The text of the regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 18th October 2003. Some people consider the new Regulations to be a "green light" to end the EU's 'de facto' moratorium on GMO authorisations. However, Friends of the Earth Europe's view, is that, further legislation on Co-existence and Liability is still missing from the EU's regulatory framework for GMOs, and these must be in place before any new varieties of GMOs are approved.

The purpose of the Traceability and Labelling Regulation is to ensure traceability of GMOs from operator to operator. This would in turn facilitate comprehensive labelling of GMOs, and put in place a system that would enable withdrawal of GMOs from the market, should problems such as harm to the environment or human health occur. Additionally the introduction of recognition systems for identifying GMOs, by the allocation of single identifying codes, should guarantee the possibility to find out at all stages of the commercialisation process who has put the products on the market and where they come from.

These new rules strengthen the previous legislation which limited labelling obligations to food containing an ingredient that had at least 1% modified DNA. The labelling requirements of the new Traceability and Labelling Regulation also extend to GMO-derived products, such as finished products like oils that do not show any traces of modified DNA. Such labelling should be made possible by the traceability system from operator to operator. The same requirements are also applicable to animal feed.

Furthermore, the Regulation requires the amendment of the new Deliberate Release Directive 2001/18/EC - which stipulated that thresholds for 'adventitious' or 'technically unavoidable' presence of GMOs should only be allowed for authorised GMOs, and that any releases of unauthorised GMOs should be terminated. The new Regulation foresees admissable thresholds for 'adventitious' or 'technically unavoidable' contamination of products by GMOs: 0.9% for GMOs authorised in the EU, and 0.5% for non authorised GMOs up to a period of 3 years in the EU but which have received a favourable opinion from the relevant Scientific Committee(s) or the European Food Safety Authority.

FoE's assessment of the Traceability & Labelling Regulation

On the positive side:

• The EU should have a traceability system, which ensures, in theory, that GMOs can be identified and labelled throughout the food and feed chain 'from farm to fork'.

• The traceability regime should facilitate the monitoring of health and environmental effects of GMOs and the withdrawal of harmful products.

• A new article has been introduced into Directive 2001/18/EC which will allow EU Member States to adopt "all necessary measures" in order to avoid the presence of GMOs in traditional or organic crops. This is the so called "coexistence issue".

On the negative side:

• 0,9 % threshold undermines consumer choice.

• The regulation legalizes contamination with unauthorised GMO's that enter the food chain up to a level of 0,5% without labelling

• Medicinal products for human or veterinary use are not included in the scope of the Regulation, thus leaving open the issue of traceability of GM plants grown for the production of pharmaceuticals.

• Animal products such as meat, milk and eggs from animals fed on GMOs are also excluded from traceability and labelling.

• The Regulation does not cover traceability of non-food GMO derivatives, although several GM plants are intended for non-food uses such as oilseed rape (fuel), cotton (fibre) and tobacco.

• Exemptions from the Regulation are made for the 'adventitious' or 'technically unavoidable' presence of GMOs not authorised for market release for a period of three years

What's next ?

The new rules entered into force on 18 April 2004. From that date onwards operators have to comply with the new requirements.

The Regulation will be revised two years after entering into force. The European Commission should present to the Parliament and Council a report on the implementation of the Regulation, in particular the effectiveness of the traceability and labelling rules.

Find the legislation

Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 concerning the traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and the traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms and amending Directive 2001/18/EC Official Journal L 268 , 18/10/2003 P. 0024 - 0028