European Parliament adopts resolution on the EU strategy for the Almaty Conference on the Aarhus Convention.

The European Parliament has urged that precise provisions be adopted to guarantee efficient and comprehensive public participation in decision making concerning GMOs, if appropriate by amending the Aarhus Convention and its annexes.  In a resolution on the European Union strategy for the second meeting of the Parties to the Convention, adopted by the  Parliament today, it also urged countries to ratify the Aarhus Convention and the Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers and to encourage other countries outside the UNECE to become parties to the environmental rights treaty.

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The Parties to the Convention will take up the issue of amending the Convention to enhance public participation in GMOs decisions at its second meeting, to be held in Almaty, Kazahkstan, 25-27 May 2005.