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The 3rd meeting of the Working Group of the Parties, the intersessional body set up to oversee the implementation of the work programme and the activities of subsidiary bodies of the Aarhus Convention, took place in Geneva on 1-3 November 2004. The meeting reviewed progress made by the working groups and the task forces in various substantive issues such as pollutant release and transfer registers, genetically modified organisms, access to justice, electronic information tools and the Convention’s compliance mechanism.
In addition to a number of administrative and procedural issues, including strategic planning, the 3-year work programme and reporting requirements, the Working Group focused on the preparations for the Second Ordinary Meeting of the Parties (MOP-2) that will take place in Kazakhstan in May 2005.
The Working Group also revisited the issues of public participation in strategic decision-making and public participation in international forums and considered developments in the area of capacity-building and the Convention’s clearing-house mechanism. It agreed to the text of a draft decision on financial arrangements for consideration at MOP-2. The Working Group amended separate draft decisions on Access to Justice, Electronic Information Tools and the Clearing-house mechanism, and GMOs which will be taken up at its next meeting in February 2005.
For more information on the Working Group of the Parties and preparations for MOP-2, see www.unece.org/env/pp/wgp.htm
