BCH Knowledge Base

In some instances, National Focal Points for the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH-NFPs) may wish to delegate some or all  the responsibilities for submitting information in the BCH to National Authorized Users (NAUs) .

NAUs can create and manage draft records in designated categories of national information (depending on their assigned role). However, all new records created by NAUs, as well as any modifications that they make to existing records, are subject to validation prior to publication either by the BCH-NFP, in the case of National Records, or by the Secretariat, in the case of Reference Records.

The User Management page, accessible through the Submit page, allows BCH-NFPs to add, edit or delete roles of NAUs for all records or for specific types of records.

To add or update an NAU:

1. Sign in to the Submit page.
2. Click on the User Management tab.
3. To add a new NAU: click on the Add Authorized User button and then follow the online instructions.
4. To edit an NAU role: click on the ‘list’ icon. Then follow the online instructions. TIP: Use the free text box on the right top corner to find an NAU by typing a word of your choice, or the e-mail of the person you are searching for.
5. To delete an NAU: click on the ‘trash bin’ icon.

Note that once a role is added or modified, an automatic e-mail message is sent to the NAU with the notification of the new role(s) and a link to updating the profile or resetting the password.

How to submit “National Records”

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Sign in to the Submit page.

Step 2: On the Dashboard:

• Click on the ‘+’ icon next to a record type to access the online form for creating a new record.

                                       --OR--

• Click on the ‘list icon’ icon next to a record type. This will open the page with the summary of all the records for that record type. Click on the Add New button.

                                       --OR--

• Click on the record type to access the page with the summary of all the records for that record type, and then click on the Add New button.

         An “Introduction” will open.

Step 3: Click on the “Submission form”.

Step 4: Fill in the “Submission form” and complete the fields according to the instructions. Mandatory fields are indicated with a red asterisk (*). 

You can also save your record by clicking on the Save Draft button located on the top and bottom right corners. Frequently saving your records is recommended, especially, in case of intermittent internet connections.

Step 5: Click on “Review” to verify the information in your record. If some of the mandatory fields have not been completed, the “Review” will highlight them. You will not be able to publish the record unless all mandatory fields are completed.

Step 6: If you are a BCH-NFP / ABSCH-PA:  Click on the “Publish” tab and then again on the Publish button. As a result, the record will be published.

Step 7: If you are a CPB-NFP / ABS-FP or NAU: Click on the “Publish” tab and then on the Request Publication button. A "Publishing Request" box will appear. Write an additional message, if you wish, and click on the Send Request button. An e-mail message will then be sent to the BCH-NFP/ABSCH-PA with your request. The record will now have the "Pending approval" status. Once it is published, you will be notified by e-mail and the record’s status will change from "Pending approval” to “Published”.

Step 8: If you are a BCH-NFP / ABSCH-PA and need to publish the record created by a CPB-NFP / ABS-FP or NAU: All records pending your approval are visible on your Dashboard. Whenever a new request for publishing is made, you will receive an automated "publishing request" message at your registered e-mail.  Click on the link provided in the e-mail message. You will be prompted to log into the Clearing-House with your registered account. Once logged in, you will see the details of the "Publishing Request" record with the following buttons: Approve, Edit, Reject. Click on Approve to publish the record. Respectively, you can also edit or reject the request. If you decide to reject a request, the application will allow you to specify the reason.

Important Remarks: 

• Each National Record that is created (“draft”, “pending request” and “published”) is added to your Government’s list of national records that is shared through the Dashboard among all the national users for your country (Focal Points and NAUs).
• Once a publication request is sent to the BCH-NFP / ABSCH-PA, the NAU and CPB-NFP / ABS-FP will no longer be able to edit it. They will only be able to cancel it by opening it from the Dashboard and then clicking on the Cancel request button.

How to submit “Reference Records”

Reference Records include a number of relevant resources and information. They can be submitted by any registered user (Parties, Non-Parties, governments, civil society and relevant stakeholders). However, it is the responsibility of the Secretariat to verify the accuracy and completeness of these records prior to their publication. Therefore, Reference Records can be published by the Secretariat only.

**********************************************************

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Sign in to the Submit page.

Step 2: On the Dashboard:

• Click on the ‘+’ icon next to a record type to access the online form for creating a new record.

                                   --OR--

• Click on the ‘list icon’ icon next to a record type. This will open the page with the summary of all the records for that record type. Click on the Add New button.

                                   --OR--

• Click on the record type to access the page with the summary of all the records for that record type, and then click on the Add New button.

          An “Introduction” will open.

Step 3: Click on the “Submission form”.

Step 4: Fill in the “Submission form” and complete the fields according to the instructions. Mandatory fields are indicated with a red asterisk (*). 

You can also save your record by clicking on the Save Draft button located on the top and bottom right corners. Frequently saving your records is recommended, especially, in case of intermittent internet connections.

Step 5: Click on “Review” to verify the information in your record. If some of the mandatory fields have not been completed, the “Review” will highlight them. You will not be able to publish the record unless all mandatory fields are completed.

Step 6: Click on the “Publish” tab and then on the Request Publication button. A "Publishing Request" box will appear where you may enter, if you wish, an additional message that will accompany your request. Then, click on the Send Request button to send your request to the Secretariat. The record will now have the "Pending approval" status. Once it is published, you will be notified by e-mail and the record’s status will change from "Pending approval” to “Published”.

Important Remarks

• Once a publication request is sent to the Secretariat, you will no longer be able to edit it. You will only be able to cancel it by opening it from the Dashboard and then clicking on the Cancel request button.
• Contacts (CON) are the only records that can be published by any registered user. 

The clearing-house allows you to subscribe to receive emails when records that match your custom search queries are published in the clearing-house. For example, you may wish to setup an email alert to be notified when competent national authority records are added or updated by a specific country or region.

This can be done through the Email Alerts tab in Submit or “My saved searches” feature in Search. Please note that when you create email alerts using one of those features, your saved custom search queries will automatically be displayed in both places.

How to save a query and create an e-mail alert:

1. Sign-in to the clearing-house.
2. On the Submit page, click on the “Email Alerts” tab.

        OR

   On the Search page, click on the“My saved searches”tab.

3. Under the “My Alerts” section, click on the “Add new” button.
4. In the pop-up window that opens:

                --Type the title for your search query.

                --Under the Search section select the filters of interest.

                --Check the box “Send me an email when records relevant to this search are added or updated”.

                --Click on the Save button.

NOTE: When you are on the Search page, you can also start by first selecting the required filters, and then clicking on theSave this searchbutton. Since the filters have already been selected, you will only need to name your custom query search and save it. Any time you want to see all your saved search queries,  click on the “My saved searches” tab. Your search queries are displayed in the “My Alerts” section. You must be signed in to perform the described functions.

“My Alerts” section: What do the different icons mean?

Email alerts frequency

By default, email alerts are sent out weekly. However, you can change the frequency for receiving email alerts from the clearing-house. To do so: from the “Select frequency” drop-down list, select one of the following: Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Never (this option allows you to stop/pause receiving the alerts that are already created without deleting them).

Overview alerts

In the Overview alerts section, you can select the “Email me” check box to add an overview section to your email alert, which will contain a summary of all new or updated records published in the clearing-house within your selected frequency. Deselecting this option will remove the summary.

Unsubscribe

You can unsubscribe from receiving email alerts by clicking on the Unsubscribe link appearing at the bottom of your alert email.

The Search page is where you will find all information available in the Clearing-House.

On the Search page, records are organized into three categories: “National records”, “Reference records” and “SCBD records”. By default, no filters are set. The search results are separated by record category and displayed under separate tabs. The “All records” tab is displayed by default, but users can select a particular category of interest to view only the associated records. The total number of records that exist in the database for each category of records is indicated inside the black circle next to each tab. 

Records are also colour-coded to reinforce its record category:  

• Records in blue = National records;
• Records in orange = Reference records;
• Records in black = SCBD records - which are managed by the CBD Secretariat.

FILTERS

The Clearing-House offers users a wide variety of filters to facilitate the search for specific information of interest. 

There are two types of filters:

• Global Filters appear on the top of the Search page, just below the free text search box and consist of 5 pre-defined filters: Record types,  Keywords, Country, Regions and Date.

These filters allow users to search the entire database through all record categories. Records can be searched by selecting a combination of any of the global filters. This gives users the flexibility to retrieve a very wide or a very narrow set of results. 

Free text search also applies to the entire database and can be combined with the global filters. It allows users to search the database by typing any word(s) of your choice. TIP: Change the website to your preferred language before typing the text in that language.

Global Filter options:

When a filter option is selected, the search will automatically be executed, and the active filter will appear at the top of the Search page. Scroll down to view the results. 

*****************************************************************************************************************************

• Sub-filters appear when you select a particular option within the Record types global filter.  They are displayed below the global filters, just to the left of the search results. 

For example, in the BCH, if you select Competent National Authority (in the “National records” category), the following sub-filters appear on the left side (scroll down to see them):  

--‘Free Text’,  ‘Administrative functions’, 

--‘Types of organism(s) under its responsibility’. 

You can continue to use these sub-filters to further narrow your search for the Competent National Authority(ies) of interest.

Each record type has its own specific set of sub-filters. The sub-filters, including the Free Text, apply only to the selected record type.  

You can perform your search by using the global or the sub-filters only, or a combination of both.

Please click on “TAKE SEARCH TOUR” to go through the search step-by-step

Important Note

Contacts (CON) are only searchable if they are referenced in other records.

The  “Share” feature of the Search page allows users to share search results or a single record with others. There are three ways to share clearing-house records: by URL, by email or by embedding record(s) into another webpage. 

The Share button can be found in two distinct locations:

1. At the top-right of the main Search page: clicking on the Share button at this location allows you to share the entire search results. All global filters and sub-filters you select will be represented in the URL, email, or embed that you share.
2. At the top-right of a published record: clicking on the Share button at this location allows you to share this particular record. 

HOW TO SHARE:

Once you click on the Share button, you will be presented with a pop-up box containing three share options: “Link”, “Embed” and “Email”:

• In the “Link” option, click on the Generate link button. A link will be displayed in the same pop-up box. Click on the Copy button and paste the link where you wish to share the content. 

• In the “Email” option, type the e-mail address(es) of the recipient(s) you wish to receive the record or search results. Click Send. The link will be automatically generated and included in the e-mail message. TIP: Use commas or semi-colons to separate multiple email addresses.

• In the “Embed” option, type the domain where you intend to embed the page and click on Generate code. A script will be generated and displayed in the same pop-up box. Click on the Copy button and paste the script where you wish to embed the content. 

The accounts below have been created for use on the Training Site of the Biosafety Clearing-House. Users may log-in to the accounts below to practice submission of national information either as a BCH National Focal Point (BCH-NFP) or a National Authorized User (NAU).

Please note that any records published or modified on the Training Site will NOT affect the official BCH site.  

For workshop participants: multiple users may log-in and use the same account simultaneously. However, please be advised that the same record should not be edited at the same time. 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Please do not modify the accounts below.

Any person can have a CBD account which will give her/him access to submit information in all CBD clearing-houses, including the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH), the ABS Clearing-House (ABS CH) and the clearing-house mechanism (CHM) under the Convention. You can register for a CBD account using a valid e-mail address at: https://accounts.cbd.int/signup. Make sure you enter all the information required as instructed on the form and click “Submit”. You will automatically receive an e-mail with a link to confirm your account.

You can access all clearing-houses and the CBD website with the same CBD account.

You can also create an account directly through the Clearing-House website:

1. Click on SIGN IN on the top-right corner.
2. In the box that opens, click on “Create an account”.
3. Enter all the information required on the form and click “Submit”. You will automatically receive an e-mail with a link to confirm your account.

National Reports can be found:

• On the Search page.

                   --OR--

• On the National Report Analyzer page. On the top navigation bar, click on Search and then on “National Report Analyzer”. The National Report Analyzer tool allows users to perform various analyses of the information contained in the reports. You can open the report from the National Report Analyzer. To do so:
  1. In “National Report” drop down list, select the report of interest.
  2. In “Geographical areas” drop down list, select “Select countries”.
  3. Click on the country(ies) of interest, and then click on the Close button.
  4. Click on the Analyze button. An analysis report will appear.
  5. In the column to the right, click on the country name and then on the country code (for example: click on Belarus and then on BY). The report will open.

Click on https://accounts.cbd.int/password/reset to reset your password. You will be prompted to enter your registered e-mail address. An e-mail will then be sent to you with instructions on how to reset your password.

You can also reset your password through the Clearing-House:

1. Click on SIGN IN on the top-right corner.
2. In the box that opens, click on “Forgot password?”.
3. Enter your registered e-mail address and click “Submit”. An e-mail will then be sent to you with instructions on how to reset your password.

General information: “Workflow” for national users

BCH National Focal Points (BCH-NFPs) are the only national users who have the authority to publish all types of National Records in the BCH, including records created by Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety National Focal Points (CPB-NFPs) or National Authorized Users (NAUs). Once CPB-NFPs or NAUs create or edit records and submit them for publication, a workflow is created between the respective national users. A workflow is the process a record goes through in order to be published (or deleted) when more than one user is involved. 

As a BCH-NFP, you have several options when you receive a request for publication.

How to “Approve”, “Edit” or “Reject” a record: 

Step 1: Once a publishing request is made by a CPB-NFP or NAU, you will receive an automated message at your registered e-mail.  This request will also be visible on your Dashboard (below the “Welcome “ section and in the “Requests” column). 

NOTE: As a BCH -NFP, you have  83 days to publish, reject or cancel a request. In the course of the 83 days, you will receive periodic reminders by e-mail. If no action is taken within this time, the record will remain in “Draft” mode, but no more reminder notifications will be sent from the BCH. BCH-NFPs, NAUs and CPB-NFPs will be notified of the termination of the workflow accordingly by e-mail.

Step 2: Click on the link provided in the e-mail notification. You will be prompted to sign into the BCH with your registered account. 

Step 3: Once logged in, you will see the details of the "Publishing Request" record and the following buttons: Approve, Edit, Reject. 

Alternatively, once logged in to the BCH, you can also see all the records that are pending your approval on your Dashboard. Click on the record to open it.

Step 4: To publish the record: click on Approve.

Step 5: To edit the record: click on Edit, make your modifications in the “Submission form” and then publish the record.

Step 6: To reject the record: click on Reject. A pop-up box will open in which you can specify the reasons for your rejection (for example, you want your NAU to make additional changes). Once completed, click on Reject. An e-mail will be sent to the NAU or CPB-NFP informing them of your decision. Once the NAU or CPB-NFP implements your changes and re-submits the record for publishing, you will receive an e-mail with a new request for publication. 

A CPB-NFP or NAU might want to edit or delete an already published record. Any modifications made to a record by other national users need to be approved by the BCH-NFP. The process is the same as described above.

When you receive a request to “DELETE” a record:

A CPB-NFP or NAU might want to delete an already published record. In that case, the deletion of a record also needs to be approved by the BCH-NFP. As a BCH-NFP, you will also be notified by e-mail of the request for deletion. To approve deletion, just open the record and you will see two self-explanatory buttons: Reject (do not delete) and Delete.

Important Note for NAUs and CPB-NFPs about “CANCELLING” requests:

Once a record is sent for publication to the BCH-NFP, the NAU or CPB-NFP will no longer be able to edit it. They will only be able to cancel it. To cancel a request, click on the record on the Dashboard and then open it from the summary of records page. Click on the Cancel request button. The BCH-NFP will also be notified by e-mail.