What has been done on Risk Management
To date, Risk Management issues have been addressed together with
Risk Assessment (Article 15).
Current Activities on Risk Assessment
In its decision
BS-VIII/12, the COP-MOP acknowledged the work of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, having completed its mandate, as well as the Online Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management and took note of the voluntary
Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms as the outcome of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group with input from the Online Forum.
In the same decision, the COP-MOP also invited interested Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to take the Guidance into account as a voluntary tool to assist in conducting risk assessment in accordance with the Cartagena Protocol while acknowledging that other guidance documents and national approaches can also assist in conducting risk assessment in accordance with the Protocol.
Furthermore, the COP-MOP invited Parties to submit to the Executive Secretary:
- information on their needs and priorities for further guidance on specific topics of risk assessment of living modified organisms;
- proposals on criteria, including the technical justification, that may facilitate the selection of topics for the development of further guidance; and,
- views on perceived gaps in existing guidance materials.
and decided to extend the Online Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management to exchange experiences on risk assessment, provide information and views on, and perceived gaps in existing guidance materials, and proposals to address any gaps identified.
Moreover, the COP-MOP requested the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to review the information provided and to recommend a way forward to address the needs, priorities and gaps identified by Parties for consideration by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol at its ninth meeting, including the possible establishment of a new ad hoc technical expert group, with the understanding that new guidance proposals should only be presented upon approval by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol.
In light of these requests, a
tentative calendar of activities outlining a way forward for the implementation of the elements of the COP-MOP decision will be available in due course.
History of COP-MOP Decisions on Risk Assessment
In their decision
BS-II/9 the Parties considered Risk Assessment and Risk Management. They established an
Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment (AHTEG) to further consider and evaluate the nature and scope of existing approaches to risk assessment and identify existing gaps, and capacity-building needs. The Executive Secretary was requested to convene, prior to the fourth meeting of the COP-MOP and subject to availability of funds, regional workshops on capacity-building and exchange of experiences on risk assessment risk management of LMOs.
In their decision
BS-III/11 the COP-MOP further considered a strategy for Risk Assessment and Risk Management based on information received from interim national reports under the Protocol, a synthesis of views and compilations of existing guidance materials as well as the
report of the AHTEG. The COP-MOP also examined further measures for enhancing capacity-building in risk assessment.
In their decision
BS-IV/11, the Parties to the Protocol established: (i) an open-ended online forum through the Biosafety Clearing-House (hereinafter “Open-ended Online Forum”); and (ii) an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on Risk Assessment and Risk Management with the objective to develop further guidance on specific aspects of risk assessment and risk management. Furthermore, COP-MOP requested the Executive Secretary to organize training activities on risk assessment and risk management, including hands-on regional or subregional training courses.
At their fifth meeting, the Parties welcomed the document "Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms" (hereinafter “the Guidance”) developed through the joint efforts of the two groups and called for its first version, in their decision
BS-V/12, to be further scientifically reviewed and tested to establish its overall utility and applicability to living modified organisms of different taxa introduced into different environments. With regard to capacity-building in risk assessment, COP-MOP 5 welcomed reports of the two Subregional Workshops on Capacity-building and Exchange of Experiences on Risk Assessment and the training manual on risk assessment. Additionally, the COP-MOP 5 invited governments to submit relevant information that may assist Parties in the identification of LMOs or specific traits that may or are not likely to have adverse effects on biodiversity.
In their decision
BS-VI/12, the Parties commended the progress made on the resulting
Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms, the revised
Training Manual on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms as well as the initial concept of an
e-learning tool. They also welcomed
reports of the Subregional Workshops on Capacity-building that were held by the Secretariat. Furthermore they decided to extend the
Open-ended Online Forum while bringing to a close the current
AHTEG. The Parties further decided to establish a new AHTEG on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, that will work following the input provided by the Open-Ended Online Forum, in accordance with the terms of reference and modalities of work in the Annex to the decision.
At their seventh meeting, the Parties welcomed the results of the testing of the Guidance and invited Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to test or use, as appropriate, the Guidance in actual cases of risk assessment and as a tool for capacity-building activities in risk assessment. In their decision
BS-VII/12, the COP-MOP also decided to extend the Online Forum and AHTEG on Risk Assessment and Risk Management as well as expanding the composition of the AHTEG to add one new member from each region. The expanded AHTEG will work following the input provided by the Open-Ended Online Forum, in accordance with the terms of reference and modalities of work in the Annex to the decision, to revise and improve the Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms, taking into account the results of the testing process, established in decision BS-VI/12. The COP-MOP also welcomed the package that aligns the Guidance and Training Manual and invited Parties and other Governments and relevant organizations to test or use, as appropriate, the package as a tool for, inter alia, capacity-building in risk assessment
At their eighth meeting the COP-MOP mandated further activities relating to risk assessment and risk management as per
decision BS-VIII/12 as outlined above.
Activities of the AHTEG
An outline of the activities of the former AHTEGs can be found at the
AHTEG homepage