[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 241 (Wednesday, December 16, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69354-69355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33239]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
[Public Notice 2947]


Public Meeting on Government Activities on the Negotiation of a 
Protocol on Biosafety

AGENCY: Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific 
Affairs (OES), Department of State.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting regarding Government Activities on the 
negotiation of a Protocol on Biosafety.

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SUMMARY: This public meeting will provide an overview of the major 
issues to be addressed in the final negotiating session of the Protocol 
on Biosafety under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). 
Negotiations on a protocol to govern the transboundary movement of 
living modified organisms (LMOs) are scheduled to be completed

[[Page 69355]]

February 14-19, 1999 in Cartagena, Colombia. A special session of the 
CBD Conference of the Parties (COP) is scheduled February 22-23 to 
approve the agreement as a protocol to the CBD. The United States is a 
world leader in biotechnology research and production. The United 
States is working to ensure that a biosafety regime established by the 
protocol is environmentally responsible, scientifically based and 
analytically sound, and will not unduly affect research and trade in 
beneficial biotechnology products. This meeting will take place from 10 
a.m. to 12 noon on January 8, 1999 in room 1107, Department of State, 
2201 C Street Northwest, Washington, DC. Attendees should use the 
entrance at C Street and should provide Ms. Jean Bell (202-647-2418) 
with their date of birth and social security number by January 6. 
Attendees should bring picture identification. Participants who wish to 
make statements and those who cannot attend are invited to fax comments 
to John Tuminaro at 202 736-7351.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact Mr. 
John Tuminaro, United States Department of State, OES/ETC, Room 4333, 
2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520. Phone 202-647-2418; fax 202-
736-7351. Further information regarding the negotiations, including the 
draft protocol text, can be obtained from the Convention on Biological 
Diversity website www.biodiv.org.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States, through an interagency 
working group chaired by the Department of State, is engaged in 
negotiations under the auspices of the Convention on Biological 
Diversity (CBD) that will result in an international protocol governing 
the transboundary movement of living modified organisms, and 
potentially products derived from them, that are developed using modern 
biotechnology. Negotiations on the protocol are scheduled to conclude 
with a sixth meeting in Cartagena, Colombia February 14-19, 1999. A 
special session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD will 
be held in Cartagena February 22-23 to approve the agreement as a 
protocol to the CBD.
    Although not a party to the CBD, the United States has been 
permitted to participate in the protocol negotiations under the mandate 
of the Ad Hoc Working Group set up by the CBD COP to undertake the 
negotiations of the biosafety agreement. Veit Koester of Denmark chairs 
the Ad Hoc Working Group.
    At the core of protocol will be an advance informed agreement 
procedure (AIA). The AIA would include notice and consent requirements 
that must be fulfilled before genetically modified organisms can be 
exported from one country to another. Our experience has demonstrated 
to us that the risks to biological diversity presented by genetically 
modified organisms are limited and are not significantly different in 
kind from those posed by traditionally developed organisms. With this 
approach, the U.S. has worked consistently bilaterally and 
multilaterally to ensure that the regime established by the protocol 
will be environmentally responsible, scientifically based and 
analytically sound, and will not unduly affect research and trade in 
beneficial biotechnology products. Although the original mandate of the 
negotiations was limited to the transboundary movement of living 
modified organisms, a number of governments have expressed a desire to 
expand this scope to include trade in products derived from living 
modified organisms.
    The Ad Hoc Working Group has met five times. The first two meetings 
involved broad descriptions of positions. The third meeting worked to 
produce a consolidated text of all options proposed on every issue. The 
fourth and fifth meetings resulted in a streamlined text and the 
reduction of options on the major issues. The sixth and final meeting 
is expected to result in a completed protocol. The Department of State 
has discussed the Biosafety Protocol with interested members of the 
public prior to and throughout the negotiation process.

    Dated: December 4, 1998.
Stephanie J. Caswell,
Acting Director, Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation, Bureau 
of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-33239 Filed 12-15-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-09-P