Study On The Gm Food Labelling Requirements In International Trade

This monograph analyzed issues about GM food labelling in international trade,taking the GM food trade dispute between the United States(US)and the European Union(EU)as a breakthrough point.There are different GM food labelling requirements between the US and the EU.Differences between voluntary labelling system and compulsory labelling system reflect in many aspects,which have broken through the domestic law scope and evolved to the international law scope.On one hand,issues of GM food labelling not only increase international disputes and non-tariff barriers,but also significantly affect the liberalization of economic and fairness of trade;on the other hand,issues of GM food labelling change the original meaning of geographical indications(GI)and affect the choice and judgment of the consumers.Based GM food labeling system of American law,this essay screens the historical evolution of American GM food regulatory path and analyzes the theoretical basis and features of American voluntary labelling system,then makes summarizations and statements on the deep reasons of American GM food labelling system.The GM food compulsory labelling system of the EU is different from that of the US since it builds on GM biological regulatory framework of the EU.The formation of compulsory labelling system has deep backgrounds with distinct features.At present,the international coordination of GM food labelling in international trade confronts with critical problems.There is no effective international coordination mechanism of GM food labelling system.Under the framework of WTO,there are many obstacles during the process of solving the GM food labelling problems.Identification of “like products”,application of SPS agreement,priorities of application between WTO rules and multilateral environmental agreements,these are all intractable problems.Although international coordination is lack of power,there remains space for fixing the issue.The framework of WTO provides a possibility for sovling GM food labelling issue in international trade.The problem can be solved by improving the WTO rules,such as limiting the usage of geographical indications,or establishing a new regulatory rating system based on the SPS agreement.The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement(TPP)was achieved in 2015,which brings some new thoughts for improving the SPS agreement.Although nations around the world have different attitudes towards GM food and its labelling system,both the US and the EU generally hold a careful attitude towards GM food regulation.There are many problems in Chinese GM food development and GM food labelling legislation in China is imperfect.Therefore,improving the legislation and establishing the regulatory mechanism of traceable supervision mechanism are extremely necessary.