Qiao Xiongbing, Lian Junya  HebeiLaw Science  2014(1)

Abstract: Along with increasing number of countrieslessening their legal control over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), GMOs labeling which works as the last link in the legislative regulation of GMOs is moresignificant in terms of roles and vales. The CartagenaProtocol on Biosafety (BSP), based on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), regulates the labeling of GMOs in its article 18.2 ( a) on  level for the first time. To date, after its sixCOP-MOPs, a rather concrete and systematic international legal regulation of GMOs has taken form. Meanwhile, our country, as one of themember of BSP, should take gradual measures to improve its legal regulation of GMOs, especiallyintroducing the concepts of threshold, sensitization andunique identification etc.

Keywords: the CartagenaProtocol on Biosafety; geneticallymodified food labeling; uniqueidentification; threshold

This paper  is divided into four parts.

The first part introduces the regulationon GMOs labeling in BSP. It introduces that the BSP is thefirst professional international convention，which mainly regulates the transgenictechnology. The BSP clarifies that GMOs should be attached documents that explainedthe GMO elements in food.

The second part presents the debate when BSP was constituted. The BSP was accomplished after six COP-MOPs. While,the biggest progress was made in the third COP-MOPs.

The third part is the author’s comment on the decision inGMOs labeling which made in BSP COP-MOPs. The author regards it as a great improvement. It makes the form of GMOs labeling more diverse. Moreover, thecontent has become more definitively.

The final part is the suggestion on GMOs labeling inChina. Due to the relatively low levels of legislation and there are few regulations on GMOS labeling, there are many defects in existing provisions. So the author suggests that China should revise the Food Safety Law to stipulate the GMOs labeling and expand its scaleand scope.