Information

MOP 7 Decision BS-VII/10

BS-VII/10.Unintentional transboundary movements and emergency measures (Article 17)

The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
1.Invites Parties and other Governments to submit to the Executive Secretary information on actual cases of unintentional transboundary movement and case studies related to their existing mechanisms for emergency measures in case of unintentional transboundary movements of living modified organisms that are likely to have significant adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, including information on existing rapid alert mechanisms and monitoring systems;
2.Invites Parties and other Governments, in the context of operational objective 1.8 of the Strategic Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety for the period 2011-2020, to submit views on what constitutes unintentional transboundary movements in contrast with illegal transboundary movements and what type of information should be exchanged through the Biosafety Clearing-House;
3.Encourages Parties and other Governments, without prejudice to Article 21 on confidential information, to ensure that, for regulatory purposes, the information provided by a notifier at the time of notification includes all the information necessary to detect and identify the living modified organism, including information that allows for its unique identification and where reference materials may be obtained;
4.Requests the Online Network of Laboratories for the Detection and Identification of Living Modified Organisms to continue working on issues relevant to the detection and identification of living modified organisms with a view to achieving the operational objectives of the Strategic Plan relevant to the implementation of Article 17;
5.Requests the Executive Secretary:
(a)To continue organizing online discussions through the Network of Laboratories focusing on the detection and identification of living modified organisms;
(b)To compile and synthesize the information and case studies submitted by Parties of their existing mechanisms for emergency measures in case of unintentional transboundary movements of living modified organisms;
(c)To create, in the Biosafety Clearing-House, a system for the easy identification of notifications relating to unintentional transboundary movements of living modified organisms within the context of Article 17, and provide cross-references among the notifications and relevant detection methods, where applicable;
(d)To organize, in cooperation with relevant organizations, subject to the availability of funds, capacity-building activities such as online and face-to-face training workshops on sampling, detection and identification of living modified organisms to assist Parties in fulfilling the requirements under Article 17 and towards achieving the relevant outcomes of the Strategic Plan;
(e)To compile and synthesize information submitted through paragraph 2 above for consideration by the Compliance Committee at its thirteenth meeting and, on the basis of this compilation, submit suggested clarifications on what constitutes an unintentional transboundary movement in contrast with an illegal transboundary movement.
BS-VII/9BS-VII/11