It is called the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to honor Colombia, which hosted the extraordinary Conference of the Parties in Cartagena last year. The Biosafety Protocol will help protect the environment without unnecessarily disrupting world food trade. The Protocol establishes a process for considering more precise identification of LMO commodities in international trade. It assists developing countries in building their capacity for managing modern biotechnology. The Protocol does not address food safety issues.
Food safety is addressed by experts in other international fora.
It does not change rights and obligations under the WTO or other international agreements in any way. It does not subject shipments of bulk commodities to the Protocol's AIA procedure, which would have significantly disrupted trade in bulk commodities and would have jeopardized food access, without commensurate benefit to the environment. The Protocol does not require consumer product labeling. The mandate of the Protocol was to address potential risks to biodiversity that may be presented by living modified organisms. Issues related to consumer preference were not part of this negotiation.