October 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has released the report of the eighth meeting of the Compliance Committee under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

Participants considered, among other agenda items, possible modalities of the implementation of the Compliance Committee’s supportive role as modified by decision BS-V/1 (Report of the Compliance Committee) of the fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP-MOP 5), which states that, in the event of a submission relating to compliance by any Party with respect to itself, the Committee shall consider only a limited set of compliance measures, namely the provision of advice or assistance to the Party concerned and/or making recommendations to the COP-MOP regarding the provision of financial and technical assistance, technology transfer, training and other capacity-building measures.

The Committee noted that it should consider the limited set also in the event a Party fails to submit its national report or information in the national report or the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) shows compliance difficulties faced by a Party.

It also noted that: information available on the Biosafety Clearing-house (BCH) needs to be analysed and taken into account with a view to considering action that promotes the compliance of Parties; and the absence or inconsistency of mandatory information in a national report or in the BCH may also form the basis for the consideration of measures in the context of decision BS-V/1.

The Committee further agreed to an approach to guide functions in the context of decision BS-V/1 and an organization of work for the decision’s application. The eighth session of the Compliance Committee was held from 5-7 October 2011, in Montreal, Canada. [Compliance Committee Report]