. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/CTE/W/190
8 May 2001
(01-2354)
Committee on Trade and Environment
CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY
Note by the Secretariat
The First Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee (IC) for the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety took place in Montpellier, France, from 11-15 December 2000.1  Agreement was reached on
certain actions to be taken "inter-sessionally", with the Second Meeting of theIntergovernmental Committee due to take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1-5 October 2001.  Action is
to be taken on:
2
• Information sharing :  to establish a Biosafety Clearing House in a phased manner,
beginning with a pilot phase;
• Capacity building ;
• Capacity building to develop a Roster of Experts3;
• Decision-making procedures :  to invite Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity  (CBD) and governments to communicate their views on how to facilitate
decision-making by parties of import, and to request the Executive Secretary to
compile these views in a synthesis report for consideration by the IC at its October
meeting;
• Handling, transport, packaging and identification :  to, amongst other actions, (1)
invite Parties to the CBD, governments and relevant international organizations to
submit information on their existing practices, rules and standards relevant toArticle 18
4 of the Cartagena Protocol, (2) request the Executive Secretary to prepare a
synthesis report on these practices, as well as devise options for coordinating work
under Article 18 with the work of other relevant international bodies, all for
consideration by the IC at its October meeting, and (3) convene a meeting of
government-nominated technical experts in handling, transport, packaging andidentification (subject to the necessary financial resources being made available) to
consider developing measures for parties to meet their future obligations under
Article 18.  A report on their deliberati ons and recommendations would be presented
to the IC at its October meeting.
                                                     
1 See the report of the meeting, document UNEP/CBD/ICCP/1/9 (3 April 2001), at the following
website: http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/iccp-01.asp.  Annex II contains a chair's summary of three pages of
the discussion held in Working Group 1 (information sharing, and handling, transport, packaging andidentification), and Annex III a chair's summary of six pages of the discussion held in Working Group 2
(capacity-building, roster of experts, d ecision-making procedures, and compliance).
2 See Annex I of the above-mentioned report.
3 "The role of the experts, as set out in decision EM-I/3, is to provide advice and other support to
developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition, to conduct risk assessment, make informed
decisions, develop national human resources, promote institutional strengthening and suggest strategies for riskmanagement"  (Annex III, page 29, of the report in footnote 1).
4 Article 18 is on "Handling, Transport, Packaging and Identification".  See document WT/CTE/W/136
(20 March 2000) for the full text of the Cartagena Protocol.WT/CTE/W/190
Page  2
• Compliance :  to, amongst other actions, (1) invite Parties to the CBD and
governments to communicate their views on elements and options for a compliance
regime under the Cartagena Protocol, (2) request the Executive Secretary to prepare a
synthesis report on these views for the consideration of experts that meet in the
intersessional period and of the IC at its October meeting; and (3) to organize an
open-ended meeting of experts to review the synthesis report by the Secretariat. The
meeting would be held back-to-back  with the IC's October meeting.
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