Article 20(3)(a) refers to information required by Parties for the AIA procedure, some of which must be made available through the BCH as follows:

• Any Decision by the Party of import on whether to approve, prohibit or restrict the import (Article 10(3)),and any relevant reasons for that decision (Article 10(4));
• Where relevant, information on the domestic regulatory framework governing the import of LMOs from the Party of import (Articles 9 and 10);
• Information on risk assessment (Articles 10(1) and 15 and Annex III);
• Information on review of decisions (Article 12); and
• Information on simplified procedures (Article 13)

Not all information generated by the AIA procedure is reported to the BCH; for example, the notification of intended export from the Party of export or exporter (Article 8) and acknowledgement of receipt (Article 9) is essentially a bilateral process.

Essentially, under Article 10 the Party of import has to communicate to the BCH (and to the notifier) its decision, within 270 days of receiving the notification, on whether to allow the proposed transboundary movement. The 270-day period specified in the Protocol is a maximum – i.e. Parties may inform the notifier and the BCH of their decision in a shorter time-frame if they have the capacity to do so.

In certain circumstances, the 270-day period may be extended. These circumstances include:

• Cases where additional information has been requested from the notifier. In such instances, the time during which the Party of import is waiting for the additional relevant information is effectively “added" to” the 270-day period. (Article 10(3)(c)) ; and
• Cases where the Party of import informs the notifier that an additional defined period of time is required (Article 10(3)(d)).

The decision on whether or not to allow the import of LMOs is communicated to the BCH to allow Parties, governments, exporters, importers and other stakeholders, to find out which LMOs have been approved for import for intentional introduction into the environment by a Party to the Protocol, and under what conditions (if any).

A Party of import may review and change a decision regarding an intentional transboundary movement in light of new scientific information on potential adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account the risks to human health. In such a case, the Party must inform the BCH (and the notifier) within 30 days of taking the decision, including setting out the reasons for it (Article 12).

Article 13 provides that Parties have the discretion to address certain LMO imports differently. Under Article 13.1(a), a Party may indicate that certain transboundary movements of LMOs may take place on the basis of a simple notification to the Party of import. Under 13.1(b), a Party may exempt certain LMO imports from the AIA procedure. In either case, Parties which intend to make use of these provisions make available through the BCH the LMOs to which such procedures will apply.

Article 14.4 allows for a general application of domestic regulations to specific imports rather than using the AIA procedure This also requires advance notification through the BCH.