The amendment on public participation in decision-making on release to the market of genetically modified organisms (GMO) gained four new ratifications, as Austria, Hungary, Latvia and Norway deposited their instruments of ratification with the UN Secretary-General in New York during the month preceding the opening of the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, in 2008.
Three-quarters of the Parties to the Convention must ratify the amendment to bring about its entry into force, according to article 14 of the Convention. Fifteen Parties have so far ratified or approved the GMO amendment.
How the Parties calculate this ratio will be debated during the third meeting of the Parties, in Riga, 11-13 June 2008. Under one interpretation of article 14, the threshold should be calculated using the number of countries which were Parties at the time of the adoption of the amendment at the second meeting of the Parties (25 May 2005, in Almaty). A second interpretation would use the number of Parties at a later time, a so-called "moving target" threshold.
Resolving the interpretation of article 14 will likely impact the timing of the entry into force of the amendment.
For more information on the interpretation of article 14, see the draft decision on entry into force of amendments, available in English, French and Russian - http://www.unece.org/env/pp/mop3/mop3.docI.htm.
[Source: UNECE; updated 11 June 2008]
