New int'l rules adopted on redress for damage caused by GM crops+

NAGOYA, Oct. 15 Kyodo -
Parties gathered at biological diversity talks in the central Japan city of
Nagoya adopted on Friday a supplement to the biosafety protocol that sets new
redress rules for damage caused to ecosystems by the movements of genetically
modified crops.
The move came on the final day of the fifth meeting on the Cartagena Protocol
on Biosafety, which began Monday as the official start of three weeks of
international talks on the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The ''Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress''
holds business operators liable for bringing in genetically modified organisms
in case such organisms cause damage to ecosystems and human health. It also
sets new rules for allowing importing countries to call on the operators to
take restorative measures or pay damages.
The 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity, or COP10, will be held in the city from Oct. 18 to 29 to
set new goals for the preservation of biodiversity. It will also seek to forge
an accord on how to share benefits from the use of genetic resources, but
developing and industrialized countries are divided over the matter.
Talks on compensatory measures for damage caused to ecosystems by genetically
modified living organisms began in earnest in the Malaysian capital Kuala
Lumpur in 2004, the reason the new supplementary protocol has included the
capital's name in it.
The protocol will be opened for signatures at the U.N. headquarters from next
March. The accord takes effect 90 days after 40 countries and regions ratify
it.
Japan hopes to ratify it in autumn next year or later after obtaining
parliamentary approval, government officials said. No law needs to be revised
domestically to implement the protocol, according to the Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries Ministry.
==Kyodo
2010-10-15 19:16:36


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