Traceability is the ability to follow the path or trail of GMOs and products produced from GMOs, throughout the food chain. The operator is responsible for providing information on the presence or type of GMO, up to the end consumer.

Transmitting and saving information showing that a food or feed has been produced from a GMO also provides the base for a suitable system for tracing the products.

1. At the first stage of sale (transaction in the production and distribution chain, where the product is made available to third parties) of a product containing, or consisting of, GMOs, including those sold in bulk, the operators must ensure that operators receiving the product also receive the following written information:
   • mention that the product contains, or consists of, GMOs
   • the unique identifier or identifiers assigned to the GMOs.
2. At all later stages of selling the above products, the operators must ensure that the written information they received is passed on to other operators receiving the product.
3. With products consisting of a combination of GMOs, or which contain this, intended for sole, direct use as food or feed, or to be processed, the information in paragraph 1.b) above can be substituted for a declaration of use by the operator, together with a list of the unique identifiers of all the GMOs that have been used in the combination.
4. Operators will have standardised systems and procedures to enable them to save the specified information for 5 years after each transaction, stating the original operator and the operators supplied.

With products containing or consisting of GMOs, operators must ensure that:

• With packaged food containing, or consisting of, GMOs, the label states "this product contains genetically modified organisms", or else "This product contains (name of the genetically modified organism/organisms".
• For unpackaged products sold to end consumers, the statement "This product contains genetically modified organisms", or else "This product contains (name of the genetically modified organism/organisms" must be shown on the presentation of the product or on elements associated with the presentation.