Vietnam’s Biodiversity Law Awaits Approval

Vietnam has recently completed a new draft Biodiversity Law which is expected to be approved by the National Assembly in October 2008. Chapter 6 of this law pertains to the management of genetically modified (GM)organisms. The proposed law calls for the labeling of foods or food products containing over 5 percent GM products. Although Vietnam has no restriction on the importation of GM products, implementing regulations to allow field trials of biotech crops have still not been approved. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has already reported its draft regulations for biosafety management of GM crops to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and received comments from various countries. MARD anticipates the approval of the proposed biotech regulations this year. Despite this, the U.S. Department of... [read full story]