International GMO liability treaty: agreement after six years
(24 September 2010) After six years of intense
negotiations, parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety finally agreed on a
new international treaty in Nagoya, Japan. According to the treaty, countries
that import genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and plant them will now have a
legal claim to redress in case of damage to their biodiversity.
The new treaty on liability and redress – named after
Kuala Lumpur and Nagoya, the two cities where the final rounds of negotiation
were held – is an important addition to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,
which was passed in the year 2000. For the first time the treaty establishes
legally binding international rules for transboundary movements of living
genetically modified organisms.
In a number of unsuccessful attempts the signatory
parties, representing over 160 countries, had not been able to reach an
agreement on common liability rules. The last attempt that failed was the 4th
conference of signatories to the Cartagena Protocol in October 2008 in Bonn,
Germany. Since then a group of government representatives that was established
in Bonn was able to resolve the remaining controversies and to propose a draft
treaty. The draft was widely approved and was adopted at the last day of the 5th
conference of signatories to the Cartagena Protocol in Nagoya (11.-15.10.2010).
The Kuala Lumpur-Nagoya Supplementary Protocol
establishes an internationally binding claim for countries importing GMOs to
make the responsible producer in the exporting country liable for any possible
damage caused by the imported GMOs. Especially for developing countries the
treaty offers better legal compliance.
In the case that it is proven that the cultivation of
imported genetically modified plants has had negative consequences for the
biodiversity of a country and limits the economic exploitability, the affected
country is entitled to demand redress payments or reparation of the damage. The
affected importing country is responsible for proving that its biodiversity was
in fact harmed and that the damage was caused by a specific imported GMO. In
order to produce this evidence the country may draw upon the relevant
information that producers and public authorities are obliged to supply
according to the Cartagena Protocol.
The Supplementary Protocol will only reach international legal binding force
when at least 40 states have ratified it. From March 2011 it will be open for
signature at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
See also on GMO Compass:
Further information:
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