UN Office of Legal Affairs advice on interpretation of article 14 of the Convention
International workshop on access to information, public participation and access to justice regarding GMOs,
19-20 May 2008
On 19-20 May 2008 in Cologne, Germany, Parties to the Aarhus Convention held an international workshop on access to information, public participation and access to justice with respect to GMOs.
The workshop brought interested governments, international organizations, NGOs, industry and academia together to identify the most pressing needs and challenges regarding access to information, public participation and access to justice with respect to GMOs and to facilitate exchange on good practices to address them. The workshop had a particular focus on the needs and challenges facing countries in transition (especially those from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia) and developing countries.
The date and location of the workshop was chosen in order to coincide with the fourth meeting of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety's Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CoP/Mop-4) which was held in nearby Bonn the week before. A number of experts attending CoP/MoP-4 stayed on to take part in the workshop, including experts from over a dozen non-UNECE countries.
The workshop was designed to be as interactive as possible and to consider the issues from a variety of perspectives. As well as hearing presentations by prominent experts, participants had the opportunity to take part in interactive issues-based discussion groups. The workshop was conducted in English with French and Russian interpretation provided during most of the sessions. Some limited financial assistance was available to assist the attendance of a number of participants from developing and economies-in-transition countries and NGOs.
The provisional programme, list of participants and other relevant documentation are available in the table below.
| Documents |
English |
French |
Russian |
| List of participants (New) |
pdf |
- |
- |
| Annotated programme |
pdf |
- |
- |
| Report |
pdf |
- |
- |
| Questions for participants |
pdf |
- |
- |
| Aarhus Convention GMO Amendment |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| Lucca Guidelines |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Article 23 |
pdf |
- |
- |
Working Group on Genetically Modified Organisms
At their Second meeting, the Parties noted the activities and reports of the Working Group and adopted decision II/1 (ECE/MP.PP/2005/2/Add.2) on Genetically Modified Organisms (
E
F
R), and the amendment to the Convention set out in the annex to this decision. A review of implementation of the GMO Guidelines (
E
F
R) was prepared for the same meeting, based on the results and conclusions of a survey carried out among Parties. The Parties agreed to review progress in the ratification, acceptance and approval of the amendment and the implementation of the Guidelines at their third meeting.
Background
The first meeting of the Parties to the Convention
(Lucca, Italy 21-23 October 2002)
adopted decision (I/4)
and the Guidelines
on Access to Information, Public Participation and
Access to Justice with respect to Genetically Modified
Organisms (for the full text of the Guidelines in
three languages, please see the table below). A
new Working Group was established to examine and
build upon the preparatory work undertaken by a
previous Working Group on GMOs established by the
Committee on Environmental Policy (the first
Working Group).
The
task of the Working Group was to explore the options
for a legally binding approach to further developing
the application of the Convention in the field of
GMOs, including through possible instruments and
to develop selected options for consideration and
possible decision or adoption by the Parties at
their second meeting. As a result of this work, the decision II/1 was adopted by the Parties at their Second meeting.
Decision II/3 containing the amendment to the Convention: Public participation in decisions on the deliberate release into the environment and placing on the market of genetically modified organisms
Fourth
meeting of the Working Group
The fourth meeting
of the Working Group took place on 18-20 October
2004. Please find provisional agenda, report and
draft decision prepared for the meeting in the table
below.
The amended draft decision (E
F
R)
is submitted to the fourth meeting of the Working
Group of the Parties (1-4 February 2005) for further
consideration.
At the third meeting, delegations were asked to provide comments on the legally binding options annexed
to the meeting's report, including expressing preferences for one or several of these options and putting
forward ideas on how to combine different options. Comments were received from Azerbaijan.
| Documents |
English |
Français |
Русский |
| Provisional agenda for the fourth meeting (MP.PP/AC.2/2004/3) |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| Report of the fourth meeting (MP.PP/AC.2/2004/4) |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| List of participants |
word |
|
|
| Draft decision on GMOs (MP.PP/AC.2/2004/5) |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
Third meeting of the Working Group
The third meeting of the Working Group took place on 24-26 March 2004. Discussions continued on possible
legally binding options (for more details on some proposed options, please see comments submitted
in advance of the meeting) and the applicability of public participation provisions in article 6,
paragraphs 2-10 of the Convention to certain activities with GMOs (deliberate release, placing on the market
and contained used).
To facilitate discussion, delegations were invited to provide written comments on the reasons
for and possible procedures for a differentiated approach to the development of a legally binding
option, possible elements of legally binding public-participation procedures and proposals for elements of preferred
legally binding options.
Here you can find links to submissions received by the secretariat:
In the context of discussions on legally binding options, the Working Group heard the presentation of
UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit's projects on the
development
and implementation
of national biosafety frameworks and the Environment for Europe process.
| Documents |
English |
Français |
Русский |
| Report of the third meeting (MP.PP/AC.2/2004/2) |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| Provisional agenda for the third meeting (MP.PP/AC.2/2004/1) |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| List of Participants (24-26 March 2004) |
word |
|
|
First and Second meetings of the Working Group
The first two meetings of the Working Group took
place in Geneva on 9-11 April 2003 and 1-3 October
2003. For more details on the outcome of these meetings,
please refer to the reports available here.
Also available are comments submitted by
delegations in advance of the second meeting on
preferred legally binding options and reports on
national experiences with the application of public
participation procedures to activities with GMOs
and the Guidelines on Access to Information, Public
Participation and Access to Justice with respect
to GMOs.
| General documents |
English |
Français |
Русский |
| Decision I/4 on Genetically Modified Organisms |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| Guidelines on Access to Information, Public Participation and access to Justice with respect to Genetically Modified Organisms |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |
| Report on the first meeting of the Parties (ECE/MP.PP/2) |
pdf |
pdf |
pdf |