The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety requires each Party to designate:

• One national focal point to be responsible for liaison with the Secretariat (Article 19); and
• A contact point for receiving notifications on unintentional transboundary movements and emergency measures (Article 17).
• Furthermore, as part of the modalities of operation of the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH), each Party is to nominate a national focal point for the BCH to liaise with the Secretariat and to validate national records for publication in the BCH (decision BS-I/3, annex.)

Registering National Focal Points 

Information on focal points cannot be directly published in the BCH by Parties (and non-Parties). The records in this category can only be registered in the BCH by the Secretariat upon receipt of an official written communication addressed to the Executive Secretary and endorsed by the relevant authorities. 

The rules and procedures for nominating a focal point are as follows: 

• The designation of a National Focal Point for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB-NFP) must be endorsed by the National Focal Point for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-NFP) or by a direct expression of the Government (i.e. a Minister of State).
• The designation of a National Focal Point for the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH-NFP) must be endorsed by the National Focal Point for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB-NFP).
• The designation of a Contact Point for unintentional transboundary movements and emergency measures (Article 17) must be endorsed by the National Focal Point for the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH-NFP) or by the National Focal Point for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB-NFP).

To nominate an NFP, you can also use the offline common format, available in MS Word, in your preferred language. The offline common format needs to be completed, duly signed by the respective authority and sent to the Secretariat as a scanned attachment by e-mail to bch@cbd.int, or it can be sent by post or fax.

Please note that the fields marked with an asterisk (*) in the format are mandatory.