In its decision III/4, the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (para.10) agreed that the clearing-house mechanism shall be assisted in its functioning by an informal advisory committee, constituted and coordinated by the Executive Secretary in a transparent manner, which will guide and integrate the development of the pilot phase activities and endeavour to ensure that all Parties can participate in the pilot phase of the clearing-house mechanism.

In addition, at the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the Executive Secretary was instructed to ensure that the clearing-house mechanism should be continuously assisted in its functioning by the Informal Advisory Committee which is to provide guidance to the Executive Secretary during and after the pilot phase, and to play a full role in the further development of the clearing-house mechanim (decision IV/2).

At the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, it was decided that the continuation and mandate of the informal advisory committee be reviewed at the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (decision V/14, paragraph 7(e)). It also called upon the Executive Secretary, in consultation with the informal advisory committee, to develop operational procedures for the informal advisory committee, for review at the seventh meeting of the conference of the Parties.

In response to the above, the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties decided to extend the mandate of the informal advisory committee, as constituted and coordinated by the Executive Secretary, and as defined by its operational guidelines (decision VII/23, paragraph 1). This mandate has been further extended at the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (decision IX/30) until the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties further extended the mandate of the informal advisory committee to be reviewed at its thirteenth meeting. (decision XI/2) paragraph 12.