Submission of Information

In paragraph 16 of decision 14/19 the COP invited Parties, other Governments, relevant organizations and indigenous peoples and local communities to submit the following information to the Executive Secretary:

1. Provide advice on the relationship between synthetic biology and the criteria set out in decision IX/29, paragraph 12, in order to contribute to the completion of the assessment requested in decision XII/24, paragraph 2, building on the preliminary analysis prepared by the Executive Secretary in document SBSTTA/22/INF/17;
2. Take stock of new technological developments in synthetic biology since the last meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group, including the consideration, among other things, of concrete applications of genome editing if they relate to synthetic biology, in order to support a broad and regular horizon scanning process;
3. Undertake a review of the current state of knowledge by analysing information, including but not limited to peer-reviewed published literature, on the potential positive and negative environmental impacts, taking into account human health, cultural and socioeconomic impacts, especially with regard to the value of biodiversity to indigenous peoples and local communities, of current and near-future applications of synthetic biology, including those applications that involve organisms containing engineered gene drives, taking into account the traits and species potentially subject to release and the dynamics of their dissemination, as well as the need to avoid duplication with the work on risk assessment under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety;
4. Consider whether any living organism developed thus far through new developments in synthetic biology fall outside the definition of living modified organisms as per the Cartagena Protocol.

In implementing this element of the decision the Executive Secretary issued notification https://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2018/ntf-2018-103-synthetic-biology-en.pdf and reminder https://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2019/ntf-2019-018-synthetic-biology-en.pdf

The deadline for submissions of information is 15 February 2019.

All information submitted in response to this notification is listed below.