16 June 2015: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has released the report of the twelfth session of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, including the Committee’s assessment of the outcomes of the seventh Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP-MOP 7), its review of compliance based on information from the Biosafety Clearing-house (BCH), and the Committee’s input to the third assessment and review of the Protocol and the mid-term review of its Strategic Plan 2011-2020.

In response to a COP-MOP 7 request for information on the kinds of assistance the Committee can provide to Parties with difficulties complying, the Committee produced an information note (annexed to the report), and requested the Secretariat to compile information on assistance previously provided to Parties. The committee also decided to develop a clarification regarding what constitutes an unintentional transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs) for COP-MOP 8, and to request the Secretariat to inform Parties that they can direct questions regarding the format of the third national reports to the Compliance Committee.

Regarding the review of compliance based on information submitted to the BCH, the Committee requested the Secretariat to continue to liaise with Parties with incomplete or outdated records, and to encourage affected Parties to liaise with the regional advisers of the third UN Environment Programm-Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF) BCH capacity-building project.

The Committee also considered its inputs to the upcoming third assessment and review of the Protocol and the mid-term review of its Strategic Plan 2011-2020 on matters relevant for compliance. [Publication: Report of the Compliance Committee Under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety on the Work of its Twelfth Meeting] [Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety News]