For Parties that are developing countries or with economics in transition, and who do not have domestic rules, the Protocol provides a basic decision-making procedure for living modified organisms for direct use as food, feed or for processing. Failure by a Party to communicate its decision will not imply consent or refusal to imports, and this will mean that transboundary movements of these type of living modified organisms should not occur until explicit consent is obtained from the Party of import. As mentioned in point 2 above, all decisions on imports of living modified organisms intended for direct use as food, feed or for processing will be based on the precautionary principle. The Protocol sets out international rules for the handling, transport, packaging and identification of living modified organisms. However, specific rules on identification of living modified organisms intended for direct use in food, feed or processing will not apply for at least the next 4 years.
Identification is meant to ensure traceability, including labelling and segregation .
This will be necessary for national authorities in order to track the movements of living modified organisms entering their countries and take appropriate measures in case of unauthorized imports or accidents and unintentional releases into the environment. It will also help consumers and farmers who do not want to eat or plant genetically modified organisms. The Protocol sets out differentiated rules for the identification of living modified organisms for direct use as food, feed or for processing, living modified organisms destined for intentional introduction into the environment, and of living modified organisms destined for contained use. These rules are all considered to be the minimum requirements for documentation that each Party can request. As a result of last-minute bullying by the Miami Group, the rules for the identification of livin g modified organisms for direct use as food, feed or for processing have now been weakened.