SGW on Monitoring of LMOs Released into the Environment

Item 9:  Reporting and Review of monitoring data

Question: What in your view should the roles of the Competent Authority (CA) and the Applicant be, repsectively, in relation to the provisions of the Monitoring Strategy (both Monitoring Plan and Reporting and Review Plan?

The CA should provide clear instructions how GS fits in its environmental policies and protection goals, and it has to be fitted within the environmental monitoring that the CA is already doing for other threats to its protection goals.
The applicant may, or may have to, propose a monitoring plan for CSM. We would however as a CA always at least have ‘the last word’ in how the CSM should be performed.

For the CSM, the applicant may suggest a monitoring strategy based on the risk assessment, but the CA will have the final word.

For GS, it is the CA who needs to propose and decide based on the protection goals for the country.

As with risk management measures: the applicant proposes and the CA decides 

Piet

In the case of environmental releases of LMOs, the aplicant provide a proposal of  a monitoring plan to the Competent Authorities, then the Competent Authorities decide on the final apropiate monitoring activities and the aplicant must follow the indications from the Competent Authority. In adition, and not necessarily related to an application for the environmental release, the Competent Authorities will perform monitoring activities of potential effects of LMOs on the environment, according to their own strategy (not necesarily in relation to what the aplicant proposed).