Jacqui Fatka
The Cartagena Protocol on the transboundary movement of genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) will be revised by 2010 to include legally
binding rules on liability and redress for damage to biodiversity. This
is the basic path agreed on by the 147 parties to the international
convention at the 4th meeting of the UN Conference on Biosafety (MOP 4)
in Bonn, Germany.
However, many questions concerning the details remain unanswered.
Experts are to clarify how damage to biodiversity is identified,
evaluated in financial terms and compensated. "What is clear is that the
burden of proof will lie with the injured party. The injured party will
have to prove the causative link between the use of GMOs and the
biodiversity damage claimed. Then the injured state will be able to
claim damages from the party responsible for the environmental damage,"
according to information from the GMO Safety EU team. "For developed
industrial nations, this means practically no change to the status quo,
according to an expert involved in the negotiations. Developing
countries in particular, however, would gain legal certainty vis-?-vis
GMO-exporting states by ratifying the revised Cartagena Protocol."

The agreement would not be legally binding on the United States,
however, since Washington has not ratified the 1992 Biodiversity
Convention and is not a party to the convention's Cartagena Protocol on
the safety of biotech products.
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