Cartagena Protocol

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another. 

It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force on 11 September 2003.

On 29 January 2000, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a supplementary agreement to the Convention known as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. 

The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. 

It establishes an Advance informed agreement (AIA) procedure for ensuring that countries are provided with the information necessary to make informed decisions before agreeing to the import of such organisms into their territory. 

The Protocol contains reference to a precautionary approach and reaffirms the precaution language in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. 

The Protocol also establishes a Biosafety Clearing-House to facilitate the exchange of information on living modified organisms and to assist countries in the implementation of the Protocol.

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol:-

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (ICCP) was established in decision EM-I/3 adopting the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to undertake the preparations necessary for the first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol.

Following its establishment, the ICCP convened an organizational meeting on 29 January 2000, chaired by Ambassador Yang of Cameroon, and elected a Bureau to oversee its activities. 

The members elected to the Bureau were: Cameroon (Chair), Denmark, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Peru, Poland, Saint Kitts and Nevis, South Africa, Switzerland and Ukraine. At the first meeting of the ICCP, Denmark was replaced by France. The first task of the Bureau was to develop a work plan for the ICCP which was submitted, to and endorsed by, the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in May 2000.

The ICCP held three meetings between 2000 and 2003. The first meeting (ICCP 1) was held 11-15 December 2000 in Montpellier, France; the second meeting (ICCP 2) was held 1-5 October 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya; and the third meeting (ICCP 3)was held 22-26 April 2002 in The Hague, The Netherlands, back-to-back with the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

The ICCP Bureau held more than 10 oversight meetings over a period of four years of its existence. 

The ICCP submitted its final report to the first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol which was held 23-27 February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Protocol entered into force on 11 September 2003, ninety days after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification.

In accordance with Article 29, paragraph 1, of the Protocol, the COP to the Convention serves as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP-MOP), the governing body of the Protocol.