[Index]
Governments reach agreement on public
participation in decision-making on
genetically modified organisms
Geneva, 26 May 2005 - An agreement
to extend the public’s legal right
to participate in decision-making on the
release and placing on the market of genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) was reached
on Wednesday by the Parties to the UNECE
Aarhus Convention holding their second
meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.1 The Parties
agreed on the text of an amendment to
the Convention aimed at extending the
role of the public in decisions involving
GMOs.
The breakthrough in the
negotiations brings to an end a protracted
attempt to find a legally binding means
of bolstering public participation under
the Convention, which is widely viewed
as the world’s most far-reaching
instrument promoting environmental democracy.
Earlier, the Parties had been deadlocked
as a result of their differing needs and
perspectives.
The compromise text brokered
during three days of intensive negotiations
in the run-up to the Meeting of the Parties
is expected to establish a new legal norm
for the Convention‘s Parties once
it enters into force. Under the terms
of the Convention, amendments enter into
force only following ratification by at
least three quarters of the Parties2 and
are binding only upon those that have
ratified them.
The amendment to the
Convention would require the Parties to
inform and consult the public in decision-making
on the deliberate release and placing
on the market of GMOs. The public would
have the right to submit comments and
the public authorities would be expected
to take these into account in the decision-making
process. Once made, the decision taken
should be publicly available together
with the reasons and considerations upon
which it is based. Excepting cases of
commercial confidentiality, information
associated with GMO decisions would be
made available to the public. In no cases
could Parties withhold as confidential
information on the intended uses of the
release or assessment of environmental
risk, however. It would not foreclose
the right of its Parties to adopt more
extensive measures expanding the public’s
right to participate in GMO decisions.
The Meeting also reviewed
the implementation of the Guidelines on
access to information, public participation
and access to justice with respect to
GMOs, which the Parties had adopted as
a voluntary instrument in 2002. A report
on their implementation by the Convention’s
secretariat found that, in countries lacking
biosafety legislation, the Guidelines
provided inspiration for developing detailed
provisions on public participation in
activities with GMOs in legislation.3
For further information, please visit
www.unece.org/env/pp
or contact:
Michael STANLEY-JONES
Environmental Information Management
Officer
Aarhus Convention Secretariat
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 23 84
Mobile: +41 (0) 79 477 08 42
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
__________
1 The Aarhus Convention
on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice
in Environmental Matters of the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE). The UNECE region encompasses
the whole of Europe and five Central Asian
countries, as well as Canada, Israel and
the United States.
2 There are 35 Parties
to the Convention: Albania, Armenia, Austria,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania,
Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovenia,
Spain, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine,
United Kingdom, and the European Community.
3 The Report on the implementation
of the Guidelines on access to information,
public participation and access to justice
with respect to genetically modified organisms
(ECE/MP.PP/2005/5) is available in English,
French and Russian: see http://www.unece.org/env/pp/mop2/mop2.docII.htm
Ref: ECE/ENV/05/P06