Portal on Risk Assessment and Risk Management

In decision CP-10/10, the Conference of Parties serving the meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP) welcomed the analysis of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment (AHTEG) on the topics of living modified organisms containing engineered gene drives and living modified fish according to decision CP-9/13, annex I, and endorsed the AHTEG’s recommendation that additional voluntary guidance materials be developed to support case-by-case risk assessment of living modified organisms containing engineered gene drives. The COP-MOP agreed to develop these additional voluntary guidance materials as per annex I of the same decision. The COP-MOP decided to establish an AHTEG to work in accordance with the terms of reference annexed to the decision. It also requested the Executive Secretary to convene online discussions of the Online Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management to review an outline of the additional voluntary guidance materials and to support the work of the AHTEG. Likewise, the same decision invited Parties, other Governments, indigenous peoples and local communities and relevant organizations to submit to the Executive Secretary information relevant to the work of the AHTEG, and invited Parties to also submit information on their needs and priorities for further guidance materials on specific topics of risk assessment of living modified organisms, including a rationale following the criteria set out in decision CP-9/13, annex I. The COP-MOP also requested the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) at its twenty-sixth meeting, to consider the outcomes of the AHTEG and prepare a recommendation to the eleventh meeting of the COP-MOP.

In light of this decision, a tentative calendar of activities outlining a way forward for the implementation of the elements of the COP-MOP decision has been made available.