During the period of reporting, although there was no comprehensive law place in the country to address all the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety, the main Biosafety concerns when it comes to environment and population safety were integrated as part of the biosecurity framework in Seychelles. The National Biosecurity Agency in Seychelles was the body corporate mandated to address biosafety concerns regarding the importation and exportation of LMOs destined for introduction into the environment, for food consumption, and for Feed and Processing. LMOs/GMOs were covered in the Biosecurity law when it comes to any form of plants and animals' products, or Regulated Articles in the country. The Agency had permanent staff that handled import and export applications, border control, risk assessment and monitoring, emergency response include products involving GMOs/LMOs when applied in a biosecurity context. The Focal Point for Cartagena Protocol in the Department of Environment was also a full-time Government Officer, who was mandated to handle all the administrative functions of Biosafety in terms of receiving notifications, consulting with stakeholders and communication decisions taken, as well as capacity building programmes and public sensitisation.

During the period of reporting, Seychelles did not have specific regulations for LMOs in the field of pharmaceuticals. As customary for all imported medicines, the local authority followed the established international protocols when involving importation of pharmaceuticals (i.e. only those approved by FDA and WHO). However, the national authority reserved its final decision to reject any importation or use of pharmaceuticals that it felt could affect lives in Seychelles, or if there were official reasons to believe that the products were causing unresolved concerns in the medical field.

Although Seychelles does not have specific regulations for LMOs for destined for Transit or Contained use. As part of the biosecurity requirements, if the LMO is a plant or an animal or a product derived from them, or a Regulated Article, it is subjected to biosecurity procedures and if destined for contained use in Seychelles, it requires import permit before entering the country.

Seychelles' Authority has received only one notification/application during the reporting period for importation of GMO/LMO, but it was for food purposes (pink glow pineapple). It is customary in Seychelles for local residents to grow seeds of fruits, or the propagative part after consumption as part of backyard farming. Thus, there was a potential that such pineapple could easily find it way growing into the natural environment. Thus, the risk of introduction into the environment could not be eliminated.

Seychelles received a request for introduction of GMO Pink Glow Pineapple in May 2017 through the BCH destined for Food. The National Focal Point for Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety consulted with National Biosecurity Agency (NBA) on the application. The NBA in line with WTO SPS Agreement (Article 5.7) relating to food safety recommended that the Application is denied on the Precautionary Principle basis due to insufficient scientific evidence on the safety of the products, lack of local expertise and national capacity to assess the application and handle GMO monitoring in the country on a moratorium basis (until the country is equipped with technical expertise to conduct such GMO risk assessment, analysis and monitoring in the field). The provisions of Chapter 26 of the CPB have also been used to base the decision on.

During the period of reporting, discussions on Food and Feed safety with regards to GMOs/LMOs started by the relevant national stakeholders with a view to fully address all the safety concerns in the relevant legislations (Mainly Food Act, Fair Trading Act, and possible provisions to list GMOs/LMOs to require special import and export permit under the Customs Management (Prohibited and Restricted Goods) regulations and the Customs Management (Export Permit) Regulations. During the period of reporting GMOs were included under the restricted Goods list for Exportation only, whilst the issues regarding importation were still under discussions.

Article 13 is not being implemented in the country yet.

Seychelles has signed several trade agreements when it comes to trade such as WTO, SPS agreements, CITIES etc.., and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). However, none of them are explicitly for Biosafety.

Seychelles severely lacks the technical capacity and lack the necessary infrastructures to conduct full and thorough risks assessments of GMOs/LMOs. At the moment only few individuals have been trained within the capacity building framework of the protocol to conduct field assessment or to do detection and identification of GMOs/LMOs. I myself was trained in a Biotec laboratory of Gene Ecology in Tromso (Norway) in the early 2000s, but since then, there have been a lot of development and progress in the field of GMOs and Biotechnology and I am no longer up to date with the new and improved techniques being applied. A few personal in the field of Agriculture and Public Health laboratories have been trained in GMOs,DNA sequencing and genetics in general. During the period of reporting there were no laboratories in Seychelles that were equipped to conduct Genetic/DNA testing. However, upon the Covid-19 pandemics, Seychelles received some PCR equipment for effective conduct protein testing, and thus identifying the viruses producing the proteins, as well as DNA testing equipment. Currently, all Forensic DNA tests for the Police Department are being done outside the country using foreign forensic reference laboratories. This is costing the country a large amount of money (as more than 200 Forensic tests are required per year), and considerable delays are encountered to the national legal justice programme.

Seychelles is an island nation and thus, does not border directly to any country. The only risk of unintentional transboundary release will be in cargo and aviation transportation vessels which are under strict Biosecurity control at the Ports and Airport. Biosecurity emergency measures are in place for such.

During the period of reporting, none of our laboratories were equipped to detect GMOs/LMOs. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Public Health laboratory at the Seychelles Hospitals have been equipped to conduct some DNA testing in relation to the Covid-19 virus and its variants.

In Line with the Animal and Plant Biosecurity Act 2014, it is important for the Chief Biosecurity Officer or a designated member within the agency to take the role of a second National Competent Authority to exercise the functions in the CPB in relation to Biosecurity. This needs to be further discussed and decision taken at institutional level.

During the process of producing this 4th National Report, certain provisions of legislations were identified that are relevant to GMOs/LMOs, but were not known to the Competent Authority, and thus were not featured on the BCH. Also, due to an oversight, the information regarding the Application/request for importation of Pink Glow Pineapple include decision taken were not placed on BCH. Same will be rectified subsequent to this reporting process.

The National Consumer Forum (NATCOF) has published various articles in local newspapers, and produce leaflets for nationwide distribution during the period of reporting.

The issue of Confidentiality will be addressed when considering the provisions for liability and redress in the future, based on the provisions of the supplementary protocol.

Seychelles has not been very active in implementing capacity building during this period of reporting.

Article 23 is yet to be domesticated in Seychelles. Provisions were made to address its implementation in NBSAP II (2015-2020), but this was not materialised. Same will be identified for implementation in NBSAP III.

Although, the national authorities have not been formally notified of any LMOs in the form of FFP, it may have been imported without prior knowledge due to the lack of public awareness and lack of regulatory framework for Biosafety in the FFP sector.

The law regulating BIOSECURITY in Seychelles is very comprehensive and contains adequate provisions to penalise illegal transboundary movement of LMOs as a form of biosecurity concern, but however, its practical implementation is more in the field of agriculture, and limited expertise exists for other safeguards.

Socio-economic considerations when it comes to GMOs is quite considerable in Seychelles, due to the size of the country and its population. Furthermore, Seychelles is a popular tourism destination and most of the visitors come from EUROPE, where the socio-economic concerns of GMOs are quite high, and the EU has a conservative approach when it comes to GMOs.

Seychelles is yet to implement Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol as Biosafety in the country has not been active during the period when this supplementary protocol has come into force.

Seychelles despite being classified as a High-Income Country has a narrow national budget which has as primary role to safeguard the national social safety net and promote socio-economic development. GMO-Biosafety despite being regarded as very important to protect the country's fragile ecosystems and human population, was not considered an urgent priority when compared to other environmental sectors such as Invasive Alien Species, Climate Change, Ecosystems and land degradation etc.. Thus, why the domestication of the CPB has been rather slow. Furthermore, the country faces an acute shortage of expertise in the public sector in the field of modern biotechnology and biosafety to drive the process nationally. Seychelles welcomes any assistance it can get in terms of financial, human expertise, technology transfer and capacity building in its endeavour to fully become protocol compliant.

Seychelles has encountered long delays in reporting to the CPB mostly contributed by the limited local capacity, and constraint associated to the Covid-19 pandemic.