"We have strict legislation in place in the EU to ensure that any GM product put on the European market has undergone a thorough authorisation procedure based on scientific assessment," said EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou.

"There is no flexibility for unauthorised GMOs -- these cannot enter the EU food and feed chain under any circumstances," he added.

"The measures we have taken today will ensure that unauthorised GM rice is not inadvertently imported."

Last year, the EU imported 198,000 tonnes of long-grain rice from the Untied States, worth 52 million euros (67 million dollars), according to the commission.

Under the new requirement, shipments of US long grain rice have to be tested by accredited laboratories, which must provide a certificate showing that the consignment is free of the GM strain.

Although the decision has to be submitted to food safety experts from member states for review, the measures enter into effect immediately and are expected to be reviewed after six months, the commission said.

Both US authorities and Bayer CropScience, which produced the strain of rice and is the agro-industry arm of the German chemicals and drugs giant, have found that the GM rice represented no risk to humans or the environment.

However, environmental groups are outraged that the rice has ended up in the US market and some have called for a full ban on imports of US rice to the EU.

"It is time to move beyond case-by-case procedures as the GE (genetical engineering) industry has shown time and time again that it is unwilling or unable to prevent GE contamination," said Greenpeace campaigner Jeremy Tager said.

"A message needs to be sent to the US and to agro-chemical giant Bayer that genetic contamination and 'accidents' with our food are not acceptable, and ultimately they must be held liable for cleaning it up," he stressed.

Although attitudes to GM crops and products vary within the EU, they are tightly regulated largely as a result of public unease about the health and environmental impact of them.

In April 2005, the European Commission also ordered inspections of some imports of animal feed from the United States after discovering an unauthorised GM maize from the United States.

Currently no GM rice is authorized in the EU for food and feed use or for cultivation or import, according to the commission.

The European Food Safety Authority is currently examining an application for authorisation for a strain of rice made by Bayer which contains the same modified protein as the unauthorised strain in question.

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