BCH Knowledge Base

The Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) provides various help tools (materials) to assist with website navigation and performing various tasks. Below is a list of various help materials available in the BCH, which are also demonstrated in the informal VIDEOs, created in-house by the Secretariat:  

HELP TOOLS:

Description	Videos
Knowledge Base - accessible through the “Help” menu on the top navigation bar. Here you will find various categories of helpful information about the BCH, such as introductory information about the BCH and the Cartagena Protocol, as well as detailed walkthrough on how to perform specific clearing-house tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)  - accessible through the “Help” menu on the top navigation bar. Here you will find answers to the most commonly asked questions. They are also found throughout the Knowledge Base.
Contextual help  - accessible by clicking on the question mark symbol located on the top right corner of the website. Contextual help contains information related to the page you are currently on. You can also use the free text Search box to search through all help articles available in the BCH. These are the same articles that you find in the Knowledge Base.
TOURs - these are virtual self-explanatory tours that walk users through a page, identifying key functions and capacities of the respective sections.  Tours are especially useful for first-time users. Tours are available on the following pages: “Country Profiles”; “Submit” – on the Dashboard, summary of records page and online Submission form; “Search”.
Chat - located on the bottom right corner. You can use this icon to chat with us directly online.
Training Site: can be accessed through the Help menu on the top navigation bar.  The BCH Training Site is a mirror copy of the official BCH and has been implemented to help users familiarize themselves with the various functionalities of the BCH. Once signed in, users may practice submitting records, for training purposes only, as (i) a general registered user, (ii) a BCH National Focal Point (BCH-NFP), (iii) Cartagena Notional Focal Point (CPB-NFP), or (iv) a National Authorized User (NAU). By default, on the Submit page users have “Registered User” roles with access to Reference records only. To change your role, please contact us at bch@cbd.int.
WEBINAR: Where to find Help materials in the Clearing-Houses? 11 April 2024

Other Help Videos 

The User Management page is accessible through the Submit page and allows Biosafety Clearing-House National Focal Points (BCH-NFPs) to add, edit or delete roles of National Authorized Users (NAUs) for some or all types of National Records. When adding a new NAU, the BCH-NFP will be asked to enter the e-mail address of the person to be nominated. The system will automatically search for any match in the list of registered users in the BCH , respectively. If the new NAU is not yet registered, it will ask for further details. Whether the user is new or already registered, the system will present to the BCH-NFP a list of roles that can be added.

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.

Instructions for BCH-NFP:

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.
5. To delete an NAU: click on the ‘trash bin’ icon.

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.

Please also watch the video below, created in-house by the Secretariat:

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.

Please also watch helpful videos below, created in-house by the Secretariat.

(Videos were recorded in the BCH. However, the ABS Clearing-House (ABSCH) functions exactly the same way!)

This page contains a compilation of all the help videos, created in-house by the Secretariat, which describe different features and functionalities of the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH). 

The videos below can also be found in the respective help articles of the Knowledge Base. At present, the videos are available in English only.

NOTE: More videos will be added to this page as they are created.

Help Tools (Materials)

Video Subject	Video Links (click below)
The BCH offers various help tools to assist with website navigation and performing various tasks.  The help tools (materials) are accessible through the HELP menu.	Knowledge Base
	FAQs
	Contextual help
	TOURS
	Chat
	Training Site

“Submit” interface

Video Subject	Video Links (click below)
This video describes where you can find virtual self-explanatory tours that walk users through a page, identifying key functions and capacities of the respective sections.   Tours are available on the following pages: “Country Profiles”; “Submit”; “Search”.
This video demonstrates how to submit and publish a National record in the BCH as a BCH National Focal Point (BCH-NFP).
This video demonstrates how to submit and publish a National record as a National Authorized User (NAU).
This video is intended for BCH National Focal Points. It demonstrates how to "Approve", "Edit" or "Reject" a request for publication or deletion of a record created by either CPB-NFP or NAU.
This video demonstrates how to submit a Reference record.
This video explains what "inline" record creation is and demonstrates how to create a record inline.
This video describes the record validation process and the workflow - the process a record goes through in order to be published when more than one user is involved. It explains different national user roles and also shows how to create and publish, edit, cancel, delete and reject a record. At the end, it briefly describes the workflow for Reference records.
This video demonstrates how to upload a submission in the BCH, using the "Submissions (SUB)" online format, in response to a CBD Notification.
This video demonstrates how to cancel a record that has been submitted for publication.
This video demonstrates how to edit a published record in the clearing-house.
This video demonstrates how to delete a draft or a published record in the clearing-house.
This video demonstrates how to share draft records with other users.
This video demonstrates how to view the history of a record (its current and previous versions). It also explains the “Compare” button.
The video demonstrates the User Management page, accessible through the Submit page, and shows how to add, edit or delete National Authorized Users (NAUs).
This videos shows users how to subscribe to receive emails when records that match their custom search queries are published in the clearing-house.
This video demonstrates how to create the "Additional information for the country profile” section on a Country's Profile page.

“Search” interface

Video Subject	Video Links (click below)
This video describes where you can find virtual self-explanatory tours that walk users through a page, identifying key functions and capacities of the respective sections.   Tours are available on the following pages: “Country Profiles”; “Submit”; “Search”.
This video describes Global filters and their purpose in the Search interface.
This video describes sub-filters and their purpose in the Search interface.
The “Share” feature of the Search page allows users to share search results with others in three ways: by “Link”, by “Email” or by “Embed”. The videos describe those features.
This video shows how to save search results and subscribe to receive emails when records that match saved custom search queries are published in the clearing-house.
This video explains what record unique identifier (UID) is in the clearing-house.
This video explains two ways to search by record unique identifier (UID) and the difference between them.
This video describes the "Compare" feature which allows users to compare the current version of a record with any previous versions.
This video demonstrates how to report a problem with a record that has been published in the clearing-house.
This video explains what LMO quick-link is.
This video describes three display options of search results: Default, List and Group.
This video describes the "Matrix" display of search results.

Webinars

In an effort to support users and build capacity on the use of the clearing-house platforms, the Secretariat has conducted a series of webinars on the various features, for example such as searching for information and submitting information, of the ABS Clearing-House (ABSCH) and the BCH. 

To watch the video recordings of the webinars, please click here.

Forums

Video Subject	Video Links (click below)
The videos describe how to navigate through a Forum page and perform various functions.	Complete Video
	Structure of a Forum page
	Viewing messages
	How to sign in, post, reply to messages
	How to Subscribe to and Unsubscribe from a mailing list
	Where to find more help?

Submissions (SUB) common format is used to create submissions from Parties, other Governments or relevant organizations in response to notifications issued by the Secretariat.

“Submissions” is a Reference record. That means that information entered through this online format can be submitted by any registered user (Parties, Non-Parties, governments, civil society, relevant stakeholders). However, it is the responsibility of the Secretariat to verify the accuracy and completeness of the submitted record prior to its publication. Therefore, “Submissions” can be published by the Secretariat only.

To upload a Submission, please follow the steps below:

Step 1: Sign in to the Submit page with your registered BCH user account. You will see your Dashboard. 

Step 2: On the Dashboard: 

• Click on the ‘+’ icon next to the Submissions (SUB) record type. 

                                   --OR--

• Click on the Submissions (SUB) record type or the ‘list icon’ icon next to it. On the page that opens, click on the Add New button.

“Introduction” page opens which explains the purpose of this online format.

Step 3: Click on the “Submission form”. Complete the fields. Please provide the following information:

• Country OR Organization:
  • If you are submitting a record on behalf of a Government, select your country from the “Government” drop-down list.
  • If you are submitting a record on behalf of an Organization, select the “Organization” from the list. If the Organization does not exist in the BCH, click on the “Create Biosafety Organization” button and complete the fields in the “Submission form” of the Biosafety Organization (ORG) online format. 
• Title 
• Date of the submission
• Related notification (select the Notification you are replying to from the list; look for the Notification number)
• Thematic area(s)
• Documents (upload the document being submitted, as well as the endorsement letter signed by the national focal point or the head of the organization, respectively, to accompany the submission). 

NOTE: It is recommended to click on “Save draft” button periodically during the submission process. Fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory. You will not be able to submit the record for publication if you do not complete them. 

Step 4: Once done, click on “Review” to verify the information you have entered. If “Review” shows an error, that means that some mandatory fields have not been completed. Please complete them. 

Step 5: Click on "Publish” and then on the Request Publication button. A "Publishing Request" box will appear where you can type a message addressed to the Secretariat, if you wish to do so, to accompany your request. Then, click on the Send request button. The request for publication will be sent to the Secretariat. The record will now have the "Pending approval" status. 

Please note that once a publication request is sent to the Secretariat, you will no longer be able to edit the record. You will only be able to cancel it.  

Once your submission is published by the Secretariat, you will be notified by e-mail and the record’s status will change from "Pending approval” to “Published”, and your record will be visible in Search. When you sign in to the Submit page, you will see that the “Pending requests” section has disappeared from your Dashboard. 

If you require additional support, please contact bch@cbd.int.   

  Please also watch the video below, created in-house by the Secretariat:

This page provides answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the preparation and submission of Fifth National Reports under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

Question 1: What is the deadline for submission of the Fifth National Report?

28 February 2026

In decision CP-10/9, the COP-MOP requested Parties and invited other Governments to submit the fifth national reports under the Protocol at the same time as the seventh national report under the Convention (i.e. 28 February 2026, as per COP decision 15/6). 

Question 2: What happens if my Country submits its Fifth National Report late?

The Fifth National Reports are the primary source of information for several processes under the Protocol, including the fifth assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol and the mid-term evaluation of the Implementation Plan, as well as for the work of the Compliance Committee. The national reports submitted later than the submission deadline will not be included in the analysis of information from the national reports, which stands at the basis for the fifth assessment and review and mid-term evaluation process to which the Compliance Committee, the Liaison Group, and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation contribute before the consideration of the item by COP-MOP 12.   

Question 3: Who is authorized to complete the Fifth National Report online through the Biosafety Clearing-House?

A draft record of the Fifth National Report can be prepared online through the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) by National Focal Points for the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH-NFPs), the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety National Focal Points (CPB-NFPs) and National Authorized Users (NAUs).

Only the BCH-NFP can validate and publish the report.

If you are a BCH-NFP and are not sure how to designate a NAU to complete the report, please see this article or contact us at: bch@cbd.int.

Question 4: How is the Fifth National Report submitted?

English	French	Spanish

Russian	Arabic

To submit the report in the BCH, perform the following STEPS:

STEP 1: Sign in to the Submit page with your registered BCH account.

STEP 2: On the Dashboard, click directly on the record type: "Fifth National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NR5)" and then, on the page that opens, click on the “Add New” button.

OR: Click on the "+" icon next to the “NR5” record type. An “Introduction” will be displayed. This part contains guidelines for the use of the reporting format.

STEP 3: Click on the “Submission form” and then start answering the Questions which are divided into sections by numbers.

NOTE: During this process, please periodically save your answers by clicking the “Save Draft” button (located on the top and bottom right side). This action saves your report as a Draft so that you can close it and return to work on it at a later date and time. 

How can I SHARE the online DRAFT of the national report?

Please refer to this article to learn about how to SHARE the online DRAFT of a national record with other users.

STEP 4: Click on “Review” to verify the information entered. If you see an error messages, that means that some mandatory questions (the ones with a red star next to them) have not been answered. Those questions will be summarized and displayed as errors. You need to answer all of those questions as you will not be able to publish your report until all of the mandatory questions are answered!     

STEP 5: When you are done, perform one of the following to PUBLISH the report:

• If you are a BCH-NFP: click on “Publish” and then click on the "Publish" button.  

• If you are a CPB-NFP or NAU: click on “Publish” 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. As a result, an e-mail message will be sent automatically to the BCH-NFP with your request. The report will now have the "Pending approval" status. The BCH-NFP needs to log in and review and publish the report.
• If you are a BCH-NFP and need to publish the report created by CPB-NFP or NAU: once request for publishing is made, you will receive an automated "Publishing request" message from the Biosafety Clearing-House at your registered e-mail. Click on the link you see in the e-mail message. You will be prompted to log in to the online format with your registered BCH account. Once logged in, you will see the details of the "Publishing request" and the following buttons: "Approve", "Edit", "Reject". Click on "Approve" to publish the report. All records pending your approval are also visible on your Dashboard. 

You are also encouraged to use the offline template/common format for the Fifth National Report (available in Microsoft Word format on the Dashboard) to gather and organize information prior to online submission. 

If you need any assistance, please contact us at: bch@cbd.int.

Question 5: What is the format of the Fifth National Report?

Most questions are in a multiple-choice format requiring only a tick in one or more boxes. Text fields are available so that Parties may provide further details.

Question 6: In what language can I submit the Fifth National Report?

The report may be submitted in any of the 6 official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Click on the ‘language’ icon on the top right corner of the BCH and then select your preferred language from the drop-down list.

Question 7: I have already submitted the Fourth National Report. Am I required to complete the Fifth National Report as well?

Yes. Article 33 requires that Parties report on measures taken to implement the Protocol at intervals to be determined by the COP-MOP. The COP-MOP, in decision BS-I/9 requires Parties to submit a National Report every four years. The Fifth National Report is intended to gather important information regarding the effectiveness of the Protocol and progress made in the implementation of the Protocol. It will also provide information on many of the indicators of the Implementation Plan for the Cartagena Protocol, which will contribute to the mid-term evaluation of the Implementation Plan. 

The Compliance Committee regularly reviews compliance by Parties with their obligations under the Protocol analyzing information provided in the national reports. It is therefore important that Parties provide updated information in their Fifth National Report.

Question 8: What time period is the report intended to cover?

It is intended to cover the period between the submission deadline of the Fourth National Report and the submission deadline of the Fifth National Report, covering a period of approximately six years (roughly 2020 to 2025). This period is longer than the previous reporting periods due to the postponement of the meeting of the COP-MOP in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic. 

If your country became a Party to the Protocol during the reporting period, the reporting period starts at the date of the entry into force of the Protocol and ends at the date of the submission deadline for the Fifth National Report.

Question 9: Why am I blocked from answering some of the questions?

Several questions in the reporting format are ‘follow-up’ questions, enabled only depending on the answer provided to a preceding question. Questions that are not enabled remain visible in grey and cannot be answered. 

Question 10: What does the red star beside a question mean?

The red star indicates that the question is mandatory and that you will not be able to publish/submit your report until the question has been completed.

Question 11: How can my country access funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to complete the Fifth National Report?

Eligible Parties may contact:

Alex Owusu-Biney

Portfolio Manager (Biosafety), GEF Coordination

Ecosystems Division

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

P. O. Box 30552 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: +254 20 7624066

Email: alex.owusu-biney@un.org

Copy:  antony.kamau@un.org and nancy.soi@un.org

Web: http://www.unep.org/biosafety

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. 

Please also watch the Video about Training Site created in-house by the Secretariat.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Please do not modify the accounts below.

Common formats are standard forms, made available in the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) in MS Word format for download, to assist users in gathering and organizing information prior to online submission. They are offline copies of the online submission forms and are available through the Submit page in all six UN languages. Common format are clearly visible on the Dashboard and can be also found on all the pages of the online “Submission form”. For easy access, they are also listed below.

It is preferable for BCH information to be submitted online through the Submit page. However, users with limited Internet access may complete common formats and submit them, duly signed, to the Secretariat by email or fax.

There is no offline common format for the Country Profile for Biosafety Clearing-House (BCP) record type.

Offline common formats are available in MS Word format and can be downloaded using the links below:

National records

• National Focal Point (NFP): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh 
• Competent National Authority (CNA): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Supplementary Protocol Competent Authority (SPCA): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Biosafety Law, Regulation, Guidelines and Agreements (LAW): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Country's Decision or any other Communication (DEC): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Risk Assessment generated by a regulatory process (RA): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• National Biosafety Website or Database (NDB): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Fifth National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NR5): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Fourth National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NR4): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Third National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NR3): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Second National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NR2): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• First National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NR1): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Interim National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (NRI): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Biosafety Expert (EXP): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Country Profile for Biosafety Clearing-House (BCP): N/A

   Contact (CON): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh

Reference records

• Biosafety Virtual Library Resource (VLR): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Biosafety Organization (ORG): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Laboratory for detection and identification of LMOs (LAB): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Living Modified Organism (LMO): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Genetic element (GENE): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Organism (ORGA): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Risk assessment generated by an independent or non-regulatory process (IRA): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• Capacity Development Initiative (CDI): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh
• BCH News (BCHN): ar | en | es | fr | ru | zh

Important Note

Information on the National Focal Points is the only type of national information that cannot be directly published in the BCH by Parties or non-Parties. The nomination of NFPs can be done by completing the offline common formats, available in MS Word in the 6 UN languages. An 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. 

Records are submitted through the Dashboard of the Submit page. To access the Submit page, registered users need to sign in with their e-mail and password.

Submission of a record consists of the following 4 steps: 

The Clearing-House allows you to share your draft records with other users. 

During the submission process, as soon as you click on the Save Draft button, two buttons appear on the top right corner of the online form: Share and PDF.

These buttons are visible when you open any draft record.

• You can click on the PDF button to export data into a PDF file that you can download and then share.

           OR

• You can click on the  Share button – this is the recommended option.

“Share” button:

Once you click on the Share button, a pop-up box will open, and you will be presented with two options: “Send by URL” and “Send by email”. 

Perform ONE of the following:

• In “Send by URL”, click on the Create link button. The link will be generated and displayed in the same pop-up box. Click Copy and then paste the link into your e-mail message.

Important Note: Recipients do not have to have a registered Clearing-House account to access the link and will be able to open the link without logging into the Clearing House. 

• Click on the “Send by email” tab. Enter the e-mail address(es) of the recipient(s) you wish to receive your draft document. TIP: Use commas to separate multiple email addresses. Click Send. The link will be automatically generated and included in the e-mail message. 

Important Note: Recipients must have a registered Clearing-House account with the email address(es) that you have entered, and must log into the Clearing-House in order to view the draft record.

Additional Information:

In both case, the shared link will be active for 3 months only and any updates made will be visible to the recipients until the link expires.

Please also watch the helpful video below, created in-house by the Secretariat.

(The video was recorded in the BCH. However, the ABS Clearing-House (ABSCH) functions exactly the same way!)