The government of the People's Republic of China announced in early June new rules to regulate transgenic organisms, commonly called "genetically modified organisms" or GMO's. The announcement surprised soybean traders and the USDA's analysts are still assessing the meaning and impact of the policy.

The paragraph below is written by a USDA analyst:

On June 6, 2001, China's State Council published a regulation that specified procedures for managing the development, distribution and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. As is typical for such regulations in China, the regulation itself is vaguely worded, leaving a great deal to the discretion of the department responsible for drafting and enforcing the implementing regulations. The responsible department in this case is the Ministry of Agriculture (referred to in the rule as the agricultural administrative department of the State Council). What is clear from the regulation is that it will require safety certification for all GMOs, both domestic and imported, and that GMOs will be required to be labeled."

One thing that is not yet clear is the threshold level; in other words, how much gene-spliced product must be present to trigger mandatory labeling, and below which labeling will not be required.

USDA Translation at http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200106/110681034.pdf