The United Republic of Tanzania on Friday, January 19, 2018 deposited its instrument of ratification to the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
Dr. Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), on Thursday, January 25, 2018 congratulated the East African nation for becoming a Party to the global treaty.
The Supplementary Protocol, which provides for response measures in the event of damage from living modified organisms, was adopted as an additional agreement to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. It aims to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity by providing international rules and procedures in the field of liability and redress relating to living modified organisms.
Following the deposit of the instrument of acceptance by Japan on Tuesday, December 5 2017, the Supplementary Protocol will enter into force on March 5, 2018.
Dr. Palmer said: “The forthcoming entry into force of the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress represents a major step towards achieving the objectives of the Strategic Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and towards the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
“I urge all Parties to the Biosafety Protocol yet to do so to ratify the Supplementary Protocol as soon as possible. I also urge Parties to the Biodiversity Convention that have not yet done so to ratify the Biosafety Protocol so that they can also become Parties to the Supplementary Protocol.”
The Supplementary Protocol is supposed to enter into force on the 19th day after the deposit of the 40th instrument of ratification, accession, acceptance or approval (The instrument of approval deposited by the European Union does not count as additional to the instruments deposited by its member States (Article 18(3) of the Supplementary Protocol).
The following Parties have now ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol: Albania, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Congo, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Estonia, European Union, Finland, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Viet Nam.
With support from the Government of Japan, through the Japan Biodiversity Fund, the Secretariat of the CBD is organising activities to support Parties in implementing the Supplementary Protocol at the national level.
