In adopting the report by Mrs Dagmar ROTH-BEHRENDT (PSE, D), the European Parliament
amended the common position of the Council on genetically engineered foods. The EP
virtually rejected all the amendments by the Committee on the Environment, which called for
the labelling of all original or finished products containing genetically modified organisms. The
common position, for its part, called for the labelling only of products which were rendered
significantly different. The text adopted by the EP was a compromise: labelling requirements
shall apply to products different from equivalent existing products.
Parliament also adopted an amendment to the effect that, without prejudice to the other
requirements of Community law concerning the labelling of foodstuffs, the following additional
specific labelling requirements should apply to inform the consumer of: any characteristic or
food property such as composition, nutritional value or nutritional effects, intended use of the
food, which rendered a novel food or food ingredient different (the common position said
"significantly different") from an equivalent existing food or food ingredient.
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