EU adopts system of unique identifiers for GMOs (link)

Brussels, 16 January 2004

Commission Regulation (EC) No 65/2004 of 14 January 2004 establishing a system for the development and assignment of unique identifiers for genetically modified organisms (OJ L10/5 16.1.2004). Full text

(6) In order to take account of and maintain consistency with developments in international fora, it is appropriate to have regard to the formats for unique identifiers established by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for use in the context of its BioTrack product database and in the context of the Biosafety clearing house established by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity...

Article 7
This Regulation shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

From Midday Express:

The European Commission has adopted a system to ensure that GMOs contained in food and feed products can be precisely identified. Each GMO that has been approved for use in the EU will be given a different code composed of letters and digits, a so-called "unique identifier". This code is required to accompany products containing that GMO as they are transmitted through the production and distribution chains. Operators will have to list the codes for individual GMOs, in accompanying documentation, that have been used to constitute the original raw material for products intended for food, feed and processing. This will allow products containing these GMOs to be accurately traced and labelled when they come to the marketplace. The new Commission Regulation completes the EU's regulatory framework on the authorisation, labelling and traceability of GMOs (Directive 2001/18 and Regulation 1830/2003 ).

Official Journal of the EC, No. L10/5 16.1.2004