G/TBT/W/427  
 
19 January 2016  
(16-0363)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
CHINESE TAIPEI – GMO LABELLING 
STATEMENT BY THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU 
TO THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE  
4-6 NOVEMBER 2015 
The following communication, dated 15 January 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of The Separate Customs Territo ry of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. 
 
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1.  According to Articles 22, 24 and 25 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, pre-
packaged food, food additives, and unpackaged food shall conspicuously indicate genetically 
modified food raw materials in Chinese. The Mi nistry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) therefore 
have to modify the labelling regulations for food containing GMOs. Additionally according to the 
resolution of the Legislative Yuan, the food safety authority has to offer people safe and healthy food, satisfy people's right to know, and follow the EU's labelling regulations for GM products.  
2.  The MOHW has held technical experts meetings to discuss the collecting comments and has 
fully communicated with the different state holders. According to meetings' conclusions, the MOHW announced "Labelling requirements for pre-packaged food, food additives and unpackaged food containing ingredients of genetically modified organisms" on May 29, 2015, and have already 
notified WTO Members. Highly refined foods that are "directly" manufactured using GMO's, while 
the final product does not contain transgenic DNA fragments or transgenic proteins, require label one of the following words, such as "genetically-modified" or "this product is made of genetically 
modified _________(organisms), but do not contain any transgenic DNA fragment or transgenic 
proteins " on the products, but if the product uses highly refined foods, the product does not have to be labelled. The labelling threshold is maintained at 3%. For the GMO requirements for pre-
packaged food and food additives, the implementation date will be Dec 31, 2015; the GMO 
requirement for unpackaged food shall be pursued an d put into effect in three phases. Phase 1 is 1 
July 2015, phase 2 is 1 October 2015, and phase 3 is 31 December 2015. 
3.  Different country developed its own labelling threshold of GMO content. Compared with New 
Zealand and Australia's 1%, the EU's 0.9%, and China's zero tolerance, the MOHW's 3% is not 
harsh. In addition, for highly refined foods, we  only request that foods that are "directly" 
manufactured using GMOs, yet for which the final product does not contain transgenic DNA 
fragments or transgenic proteins, such as soybean oil, soy sauce, corn oil, corn starch, corn syrup, 
cottonseed oil, canola oil, to be labelled, which is not as stringent as the EU or China. 
4.  In order to avoid consumers' misunderstanding that there is a genetically modified equivalent 
of each food material, the MOHW has to limit the scope of labelling non-GMOs. 
5.  Genetically modified food raw materials are allowed to be imported to the Separate Customs 
Territory of Taiwan, Penghu Kinmen and Matsu, if the genetically modified food raw materials are reviewed by the central competent authority in he alth risk assessment, filing product registration 
and procuring a permit document. In order to pr ovide clear information to consumers and respect 
the consumer's right of knowledge, we ha ve to improve labelling regulations. G/TBT/W/427 
 
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  6.  According "Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation" Article 30, application for inspection with 
the central competent authority and declaration of the relevant information of the product are required and shall be in accordance with the customs commodity code and classification when importing foods, genetically modified food raw ma terials, food additives, food utensils, food 
containers or packaging and food cleansers desi gnated by the central competent authority in a 
public announcement. The CCC code of genetica lly modified (GM) food raw materials and 
agricultural products (Soybeans, wheat, maize (c orn) and tea leaves) can be inquired of website 
(http://www.fda.gov.tw/TC/siteList.aspx?sid=214). 
7.  For the purpose of strengthening food chai n management, MHOW announces "Draft of Food 
Businesses Shall Establish Tracea bility System of F ood Products (MOHW Food No.1041301020, 
June 8, 2015)", and is in the progress of notifying the WTO Members (G/TBT/N/TPKM/207). During 
the comment period, there are no recommendations or responses about the draft regulation from 
WTO Members. Therefore, MHOW announces the "Food Businesses Shall Establish Traceability System of Food Products (MOHW Food No.1041302792, July 31, 2015)" after integrating opinions 
from domestic food industry, and have informed the WTO/TBT simultaneously 
(G/TBT/N/TPKM/207/Add.1). 
8.  According to this newly announcement, food importers of genetically modified(GM) food raw 
materials and agricultural products (Soybeans, wh eat, maize (corn) and tea leaves) applying for 
business registration, company registration or factory registration shall establish their own traceability sy stem of food product on February 5 and July 31, 2015 separately, and shall upload 
traceability information of last month to the webs ite (http://ftracebook.fda.gov.tw) before 10th of 
each month since January 1, 2016. Finally, the food importers shall use electric uniform invoices if 
they have to use uniform invoices referred to "Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act" on January 1, 2017. 
 
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