Operations and activities of the Biosafety Clearing-House
The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol,
Having examined the note by the Executive Secretary (UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/2/3), reviewing
the operation and development of the Biosafety Clearing-House,
Welcoming and taking into account the outcomes of the internal review of the operation of the Biosafety
Clearing-House conducted by the Secretariat,
Welcoming with appreciation the transition of the pilot phase to the fully operational Biosafety
Clearing-House, and the ongoing development of its Central Portal,
Emphasizing the need for capacity-building to enable developing countries
to effectively use the Biosafety Clearing-House, including managing
their obligations to report information, and welcoming in this regard
the continuing efforts of the Global Environment Facility to expand its support
to building capacity for effective participation in the Biosafety Clearing-House
and its recent extension of country eligibility for this purpose,
Welcoming
with appreciation the capacity-building
activities of the Secretariat, such as the Biosafety Clearing-House training
workshop, and extending its thanks to the Government of the Netherlands and the Global Industry Coalition
for their generous sponsorship of this workshop, and the UNEP/GEF biosafety
team for their collaboration,
Recalling
that the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
the Protocol at its first meeting encouraged the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development and other organizations involved in the development
of unique identification systems for living modified organisms to initiate or enhance
their activities towards the development of a harmonized system of unique
identifiers for genetically modified micro-organisms and animals (decision
BS-I/6 C, paragraph 3),
Noting
that the provision of relevant information is essential for the effective
operation of the Biosafety Clearing-House,
1. Adopts the multi-year programme of work contained in the annex to the present
decision;
2. Welcomes the participation of Governments
and international organizations that have provided information to the Biosafety
Clearing-House, either directly through the Management Centre of the Central
Portal, or through the development of nodes that are interoperable with the
Central Portal of the Biosafety Clearing-House;
3. Encourages Parties, Governments and other users to continue to use the Management
Centre to provide information, and/or to develop national, regional, subregional
and institutional nodes that are interlinked and interoperable with the Central
Portal, as appropriate;
4. Urges all Parties, Governments and other users to provide relevant information
to the Biosafety Clearing-House as soon as possible, including information
pertaining to decisions on the release or import of living modified organisms
and risk assessments taken prior to entry into force of the Protocol, and
to undertake regular review of the information they have previously made available;
5. Invites Parties, Governments and other users to identify constraints on making
information available in a timely manner, and to implement strategies to overcome
these difficulties;
6. Invites Parties, Governments and international organizations to make relevant
biosafety information available through the Biosafety Information Resource
Centre;
7. Calls
upon each Party that has not yet done so to designate
an appropriate national focal point for the Biosafety Clearing-House;
8. Invites donor Governments and organizations to assist developing country Parties,
in particular the least developed and small island developing States among
them, and countries with economies in transition, as well as countries that
are centres of origin and centres of genetic diversity, to access and use
the Biosafety Clearing-House, particularly in the areas of improved capacity for data collection
and data management at a national level, strengthening
of core human resources at a national level, and
the establishment of appropriate infrastructure to share information at both
national, regional and international levels;
9. Requests the Executive Secretary to continue to support capacity-building
efforts to meet the needs of developing countries, in particular the least
developed and small island developing States among them, and countries with
economies in transition, as well as countries with limited capacity that are
centres of origin and centres of genetic diversity, to enable their active
participation in the Biosafety Clearing-House.
Annex
MULTI-YEAR PROGRAMMME
OF WORK FOR THE OPERATION OF THE
BIOSAFETY CLEARING-HOUSE
Programme element 1: Structure and function of the central portal
Objective: Improve ease of reporting and accessing information in the Biosafety Clearing-House in response to identified needs of users.
Possible activities:
- Expand the general user base of the Biosafety Clearing-House by making it more
accessible to novice users, for example by making the information more intuitively easy to find
(while maintaining as much of the existing structure as is feasible), clustering search results,
improving support functions such as an interactive Biosafety Clearing House user guide.
Main actor: Secretariat, with input from Governments and relevant organizations. Timeframe: ongoing.
-
Ensure that common formats are flexible enough
to enable full reporting of information (for example, able to accommodate
reporting of data produced prior to entry into force of the Protocol, such
as risk assessments conducted outside the annex III format; able to accommodate
data reported through product-based regulatory models), while maintaining
backwards compatibility with existing information-exchange partners. Main
actor: Secretariat, with input from Governments and relevant organizations.
Timeframe: annual review of common formats.
-
Expand controlled vocabularies as required
to reflect changing technologies and types of information that are being reported
to the Biosafety Clearing-House. Main actor: Secretariat, with input from
other organizations maintaining multilingual thesauri.
Timeframe: annual.
-
Differentiate between null responses where
information is not available because it does not exist, versus information
that has not been reported on. Main actor: Secretariat,
with input from Governments and relevant organizations. Timeframe: December
2005.
-
Maintain support for interoperability options
with partner Governments and organizations. Main actor: Secretariat with
input from Governments and relevant organizations. Timeframe: ongoing.
Programme element 2: Information content
and management
Objective: Increase the amount of information
that is currently being reported to the Biosafety Clearing-House, and
ensure it is provided in a timely manner.
Possible activities:
-
Appoint national focal points (or, where appropriate,
institutional focal points) for the Biosafety Clearing-House, to actively
make information available through the Biosafety Clearing-House. Main
actor: Governments. Timeframe: To be appointed by mid-2005.
-
Collate information relating to obligations
of Governments to provide certain data within particular time-limits and make
this more visible through the Biosafety Clearing-House. Main actor: Secretariat.
Timeframe: To be made available by mid-2005.
-
Compile existing biosafety information required
to be reported under the Protocol (see section A of the Modalities of Operation
of the Biosafety Clearing-House) and ensure it has been made available to
the Biosafety Clearing-House where appropriate. Main actor: Governments.
Timeframe: December 2005.
-
Review existing information in the Biosafety
Clearing-House to ensure it has been accurately reported and categorized.
Main actor: Governments. Timeframe: quarterly.
-
Improve user documentation to assist focal
points and other authorized users by providing clear examples and descriptions
of data required in each field within the common formats. Main actor: Secretariat, in collaboration with capacity-building
organizations. Timeframe: as appropriate.
-
Identify constraints on making information
available in a timely manner and implement strategies to overcome these difficulties.
Main actor: Governments. Timeframe: December 2005.
-
Share experiences with the use of the Biosafety
Clearing-House, particularly by providing case-studies of experiences
with national management and clearance of information ("validation"). Main actor: Governments. Timeframe: December 2005.
-
Continue to encourage Governments to provide
information to the Biosafety Clearing-House through, for example, reminders
of information-exchange requirements and provision of tools to allow Governments
to assess their performance in meeting their reporting requirements to the
Biosafety Clearing-House. Main actor: Secretariat.
Timeframe: ongoing.
Programme element 3: Sharing information on and experience with LMOs
Objective: Make a broader range of biosafety information accessible to users of the Biosafety Clearing House.
Possible activities:
-
Continue to develop the Biosafety Information
Resource Centre. Main actor: Secretariat. Timeframe: December 2005.
-
Collect information relevant to biosafety issues,
and make it available through the Biosafety Information Resource Centre. Main
actor: Governments and relevant organizations. Timeframe: biannual.
-
Make use of information-sharing mechanisms
such as discussion forums and online conference facilities through the Biosafety
Clearing-House to facilitate a broad exchange of views on experience with
LMOs. Main actor: Secretariat with Governments and relevant organizations.
Timeframe: as appropriate.
-
Consult among national, regional, subregional
and institutional centres with relevant expertise, as well as non-governmental
organizations and the private sector, to maximize use of existing experience
and expertise. Main actor: Secretariat with relevant organizations. Timeframe:
Initial consultations to be completed by June 2006.
Programme element 4: Capacity-building and non-Internet accessibility
Objective: Ensure that countries have the necessary capabilities to access the
Internet-based central Portal and are able to access information through the Biosafety Clearing-House in a timely manner.
Possible activities:
-
Continue to take into account the identified
capacity-building constraints and financial limitations of developing countries
with regard to effective participation in the Biosafety Clearing-House, placing
a high priority on data collection and data management, strengthening of core human resources at a national level, and the
establishment of appropriate infrastructure to share information at national, regional and international levels. Main actor: Donor governments and relevant
organizations. Timeframe: ongoing.
-
Examine the feasibility of expanding existing
web features to enable distribution by e-mail and fax (for example, participation
in discussion forums). Main actor: Secretariat, if adequate resources
are made available. Timeframe: December 2005.
-
Circulate regularly updated CD-ROM versions
of information in the Biosafety Clearing-House to those users without good
access to the Internet. Main actor: Secretariat, if adequate resources
are made available. Timeframe: biannual.
-
Take advantage of opportunities for providing
training in the use of the Biosafety Clearing-House, such as meetings
of the Parties to the Protocol, taking into account the need for the Biosafety
Clearing-House to be used in the broader context of Protocol implementation.
Main actor: Secretariat, if adequate resources
are made available. Timeframe: ongoing.
Programme element 5: Review of activities
Objective: Ensure that the programme of work is achieving the goals of the Biosafety Clearing-House effectively.
Possible activities:
- Continue to review the operation of the Biosafety Clearing-House, including through the use of
targeted follow-up surveys and usability studies, and by providing user feedback mechanisms directly on
the Biosafety Clearing House, subject to available resources. Main actor: Secretariat with input from
Governments and relevant organizations. Timeframe: ongoing.
- Conduct a second review of the Biosafety Clearing-House, and
compare improvements against existing baseline data, as part of the review
of the implementation of the Protocol envisaged in the medium-term programme
of work for the Protocol. Timeframe: for consideration at the fourth meeting of the Conference
of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol
