The Working Group on liability under the Biosafety Protocol was able to make some progress on the scope of damage resulting from transboundary movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) during its latest meeting in Montreal.

Progress was also reported on the definition of damage and establishment of a causal link, and the actor to be held liable.
The second meeting of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts on Liability and Redress in the Protocol’s context convened from 20-24 February 2006, just weeks before the third meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to be held from 13-17 March 2006, in Curitiba, Brazil. Deliberations were based on a working draft prepared by Co-Chairs René Lefeber (the Netherlands) and Jimena Nieto (Colombia). The draft synthesized proposed texts and views submitted by governments and other stakeholders on approaches, options and issues pertaining to liability and redress. These covered matters such as effectiveness criteria, scope, definition and valuation of damage, causation, channeling of liability, standard of liability, limitation of liability, and mechanisms of financial security. According to many participants, progress was made as the Working Group considered all the options identified in the Co-Chairs’ synthesis, and delegates submitted operational texts on scope, definition and valuation of damage and causation. Following informal consultations held throughout the week, a non-negotiated and non-exhaustive indicative list of criteria for the assessment of the effectiveness of any rules and procedures referred to under Article 27 of the Protocol was annexed to the meeting’s report.
Link to further information
IISDRS coverage of the meeting