The commercial use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) is increasing in both developed and developing countries. Problems with the sale of GMO in international trade are also increasing given the diverse regulatory frameworks needed to ship GMO products globally. One of the problems is the asynchronous authorisation which has led to low level presence (LLP) of unauthorised genetically modified (GM) material in imported food and feed products. Under the current regulations in Malaysia, the

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... esence of an unauthorised GMO in the marketplace is regarded as a regulatory non-compliance to which the Malaysian government has a zero-tolerance approach. The objective of this paper is to assess the economic effects of alternative LLP tolerances for unauthorised GMO products. The study is modelled on the economic effects of different management options for LLP situations based on tolerance levels. The study first developed an analytical model and from the data collected, simulations of effects under different scenarios; which a zero-tolerance LLP and a non-zero tolerance LLP were performed. The study found that Malaysia can benefit economically from adopting non-zero tolerance LLP approaches, especially given that a yearly average of four million metric tonnes of imported corn and soybeans could potentially be subject to trade disruption.