Consultation on legislation to implement and enforce new European regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) starts today, 30 March 2004.

The Food Standards Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have published draft documents that describe the scope of the new rules, which will require, from 18 April 2004, all ingredients that contain or consist of GMOs, or contain ingredients produced from GMOs, to be labelled and traceable. The rules also set up a centralised procedure to consider applications to grow and market GMOs in the European Union.

The Agency and Defra have launched a formal consultation on the draft legislation, which includes penalties for breaking the new rules, a draft regulatory impact assessment and draft guidance notes for stakeholders.

The consultation provides an opportunity for stakeholders to comment on the penalties that would apply for breaching the rules. The consultation period will last for 12 weeks, ending on 25 June 2004.

This consultation applies to England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will issue consultations shortly.

For information on the consulation please see the following pages on the Food Standard Agency website.

For information in full on today's announcement including useful background please see today's 'Weekly Focus' article on the DEFRA website.