Customs Portal

In line with paragraph (f) of decision BS II/6, the Secretariat works in partnership with, among others, the World Customs Organization and the secretariats of other multilateral environmental agreements, with a view to developing a harmonized approach for the packaging and transport of living modified organisms and to promote synergy and enhance capacity-building efforts.

The Secretariat also participates in the Green Customs Initiative, a partnership through which a number of international organisations and Secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements cooperate in enhancing the capacity of customs and other relevant border control officers to facilitate the legal trade and prevent illegal trade in environmentally-sensitive commodities covered by the GCI Partners. A short video on the Green Customs Initiative and a Guide to Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, are available below.

In decision BS-V/9 the Secretariat was also requested to organize regional workshops for customs officers requiring capacity in the sampling and detection of living modified organisms further to paragraph 10 of decision BS-III/10 and paragraph 3 of decision BS-IV/9. Furthermore, in operational objective 3 of the Capacity-building Action Plan (2012-2020) Parties agreed to develop the capacity of customs/border control officials and other officials to enforce the Protocol's requirements related to handling, transport, packaging and identification of LMOs and that they should be specifically trained and equipped for sampling, detection and identification of LMOs.

Further information on past capacity-building activities organized by the Secretariat for Customs officials is available here.

Technical Series Issue 1: Standards for Shipments of Living Modified Organisms: Outcomes of an Online Forum

	Table of Contents:
	PART A: Outcomes of the Online Forum on Standards for LMO Shipments
	PART B: Summary of standards and standard-setting bodies relevant to the handling, transport, packaging and identification of living modified organisms
	Annex I - Themes and guiding questions for the Online Forum
	Annex II - Statistical information on participation in the Online Forum
	Annex III - Acronyms