What has been done on the roster of experts

At its first meeting, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (COP-MOP), adopted decision BS-I/4 on the roster of experts, including the Interim guidelines for its operation and the Interim guidelines for the Pilot Phase of the Voluntary Fund for the Roster, which was established by the COP in its decision VI/29 to support eligible countries to pay for the use of experts selected from the roster.

At its third meeting, the COP-MOP in its decision BS-III/4 outlined a process aimed at strengthening the quality, effectiveness and level of use of the Roster of Biosafety Experts.

At its fourth meeting, the COP-MOP in decision BS-IV/4 adopted a number of measures for improving the quality, effectiveness and level of use of the roster of biosafety experts. These included a set of criteria and minimum requirements for experts to be nominated to the roster, updated guidelines for the roster, as well as a revised nomination form. Parties and other Governments were requested to make fresh nominations in accordance with the new criteria and minimum requirements and the Executive Secretary was requested to remove all existing records in the roster within three months and refill the roster with the new nominations. The Parties also decided to revitalize the pilot phase of the Voluntary Fund for the Roster.

At its fifth meeting, the COP-MOP considered the report on the status of the Roster of Experts and the Voluntary Fund for the Roster. In decision BS-V/4 it urged Parties and other Governments that had not yet done so to nominate experts to the roster, taking into account the need for gender balance and for balanced coverage of the different areas of expertise in the roster. It also urged Parties and other Governments to facilitate the release of their experts on the roster, and in a timely and flexible manner, when they are selected to undertake assignments by other Parties.

At its sixth meeting, the COP-MOP, in decision BS-VI/4, adopted a number of measures to further improve the quality and operation of the roster of biosafety experts. It adopted a revised nomination form. It also agreed to expand the mandate to include supporting the work of the Secretariat, the COP-MOP and other bodies under the Protocol, in relation to capacity-building for developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The COP-MOP also invited Parties and other Governments to consider nominating experts on the roster to serve on expert groups, informal advisory committees and other relevant bodies under the Protocol and/or to attend technical meetings under the Protocol. The COP-MOP also invited developed country Parties and other donors to make contributions to the voluntary fund in order to fully operationalize the roster, so as to facilitate implementation of the Strategic Plan for the Protocol.

At its eighth meeting, the COP-MOP, in decision CP-VIII/4, decided to expand the roster to include experts nominated by Parties and other Governments to participate in Ad-Hoc Technical Expert Groups and networks under the Protocol. The COP-MOP invited Parties to nominate experts to the roster and to invite the experts already nominated to the roster to update their records. The COP-MOP also encouraged Parties to consider nominating experts in areas where there is a lack of expertise on the current roster. Furthermore, the Executive Secretary was requested to revise and streamline the nomination form for the roster to facilitate the submission and retrieval of information; to incorporate a search functionality through the BCH that would permit results to be sorted by the category in which the experts were nominated; and to explore the possibility of linking the roster of biosafety experts to tools being developed under other initiatives such as the Bio-Bridge Initiative and the FAO/CODEX Alimentarius in order to facilitate the matching of biosafety needs with available funding and technical assistance.

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