Aarhus Convention Parties agree on amendment extending the public's right to participate in GMO decisions

An agreement to extend the public’s legal right to participate in decision-making on the release and placing on the market of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was reached by Parties to the Aarhus Convention on the opening day of their second meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.1 The Parties agreed to an amendment to the Convention, aimed at extending the role of the public in decisions involving GMOs.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The breakthrough in the negotiations brings to an end a two-year long search for   a legally-binding formula to bolster public participation under the Convention. Earlier, the Parties had been deadlocked as a result of the differing needs and perspectives of the Member States.

The compromise text brokered during three days of intensive negotiations in the run-up to the Meeting of the Parties is expected to establish a new legal norm for the Convention‘s Parties once it enters into force. Under the terms of the Convention, amendments only enter into force following ratification by at least three quarters of the Parties and are only binding upon those that have ratified them.  The Convention currently has 35 Parties; six other States have signed but not yet ratified the environmental democracy treaty. 

The amendment to the Convention would require the Parties to inform and consult the public in decision-making on the deliberate release and placing on the market of GMOs. The public would have the right to submit comments and public authorities would be expected to take these into account in the decision-making process.