Parties:

While all Parties (i.e. ‘members’ of the Protocol) have obligations under the Protocol to make information available through the BCH, they can also derive important benefits from using the BCH. 

For example, Parties can:

• access information about the national laws, regulations and guidelines of other Parties and information about the decisions and assessments of other countries relating to specific living modified organisms (LMOs);
• ensure that all potential exporters of LMOs to their country or those who wish to transport LMOs across their territory are aware of their national regulatory requirements;
• access information about capacity-building and other assistance available to support implementation of the Protocol; and
• ensure that the relevant authorities in other countries can quickly find out whom to inform in the event of an accidental movement of LMOs into their territory.

Non-Parties:

The BCH contains information that must be provided by Parties to the Protocol, such as decisions on release or importation of LMOs, risk assessments, competent national authorities and national laws. However, Governments that are not Parties to the Protocol are also encouraged to contribute information to the BCH. In fact, a large number of the decisions currently in the BCH have been registered by non-Parties. The information registered in the BCH is freely available to both Parties and non-Parties in order to assist them in achieving the objectives of the Protocol.

Non-Parties are eligible for BCH user accounts with the same registration privileges as Parties. They should also advise the Secretariat of their BCH National Focal Points.