EU consumer protection commissioner David Byrne said he hoped the agreement would lead the United States to drop a complaint filed with the World Trade Organization over the EU's de facto moratorium on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

"The current case relates to the existence of the de facto moratorium, it would seem to me that the case will fall by the wayside because .. there's nothing to litigate for the WTO," he said.

He was speaking after the European parliament agreed two new directives that will require food and animal feed to be labelled if it contains at least 0.9 percent of GM ingredients.

The law could be adopted by European Union member states in the autumn, allowing the EU to lift the ban on GM products, which has been in place since

Consumer groups welcomed the move, saying it was what the ordinary public wants.

"Ninety-four percent of Europeans want their food labelled. Today's vote is clearly a victory in this direction," said Aude L'Hirondelle of the European Community of Consumer Cooperatives.

Environmentalists also welcomed the vote, saying it was a "historic victory for consumers" and a good example of Europe standing up to pressure from the United States over GM products.

"This vote is a slap in the face of the US administration, which thought that by bullying and waving the WTO stick Europe, and eventually others, would swallow its GMOS policy," said Greenpeace expert Eric Gall.

Opinion polls suggest that European consumers are deeply suspicious of "Frankenfoods". But the US government has been lobbying hard for GM products on behalf of its biotechnology food industry.

The issue has moved rapidly up the political agenda since Washington complained to the WTO over the EU moratorium in May.

US President George W. Bush last week said the EU ban contributed to famine in Africa by hampering African efforts to harness biotechnology to fight food shortages, sparking an angry response from the EU.

European Parliament president Pat Cox said Tuesday "we don't need to be lectured on humanitarian priorities", noting the EU gives three times more aid to Africa than the United States.

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom welcomed the parliamentary vote in Strasbourg.

"It will reinforce our international credibility and will certainly help in building public confidence in new technologies," she said.

"We will be able to demonstrate to the US and to other trading partners that our new regulatory framework works and the WTO case is misplaced," she added.

British conservative Euro deputy Caroline Jackson said the move would force food manufacturers to do more to persuade consumers that GM products are safe.

"Such companies have a lot of public opposition to overcome, so the ball is in their court," she said.

Greenpeace added: "This legislation is a model for other countries, including the US and Canada, where all such freedom and information is currently denied," he said.

TERRA.WIRE