Side Event

LMO labelling: How to reconcile trade, biosafety and consumer concerns?

Organizer
International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Date and Time
15 March 2006 13:15 - 15:0

Meeting
Third meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (BS COP MOP 3)

At MOP-3, Parties to the Cartagena Protocol will again be under pressure to finalise the negotiations on documentation requirements for LMO shipments. Underlying these negotiations are important trade interests that favour unhindered flows of agricultural goods, consumer demand for choice, and concerns over developing countries' limited capacities to monitor LMO imports and assess and manage possible risks. The debates and tensions are also mirrored at the domestic level, notably in developing countries where regulatory frameworks are still in their early stages. The side-event will provide an opportunity to bring out some of these tensions and explore how they could be addressed at the multilateral and domestic levels. It will also evaluate the feasibility of labelling and traceability systems in developing countries, given the realities of local production and distribution systems. How could documentation requirements under the Cartagena Protocol support domestic labelling? Would developing country biotech exporters have the capacity to meet stringent documentation requirements for LMO commodities under the Protocol?