Regulatory

GM legislation originates in Europe and is implemented in the UK under domestic laws.
European Union (EU) is there to introduce traceability for GM foods and increased labeling requirements.

For example, a company decides that a GMO is ready for commercial use, an request can be made for the GM food to be sold on the market across the EU. It also covers permission for imports of GMOs from non-EU countries for use in food processing or animal feed. As for the GM food being herbicide tolerance, the herbicide used must also agree with the legislation controlling the use of pesticides. Consent is given by the Pesticides Safety Directorate of DEFRA. So far approvals have only been given for experimental use.

The FSA is in charge for the labelling of GM foods. Foods with over 1% of detectable GM DNA or protein present need to be labelled.



http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/gm_regulatory_process.pdf