Denmark’s ratification edges the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress closer to entry into force

Montreal, 9 March 2015 – With Denmark’s ratification on 25 February, the Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur

Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety has received 75% of the necessary ratifications, with only 11 more ratifications needed for it to enter into force.

At its seventh meeting, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 7) called upon Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to expedite their internal processes and to deposit their instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Supplementary Protocol as soon as possible with a view to ensuring the entry into force of the Supplementary Protocol in time for the eighth meeting of the Parties.

Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said “Denmark’s ratification is further evidence of the firm commitment of many governments signatory to the Cartagena Protocol to bring the Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress into force as soon as possible. I strongly urge all countries that have not yet done so to ratify the Supplementary Protocol so that it could enter into force in time for the next Conference of the Parties, to be held in December 2016 in Los Cabos, Mexico.”

The ratification by Denmark brings to 30 the total number of ratifications to the Supplementary Protocol, including the approval by the European Union, which is not counted for the purpose of entry into force.  The Supplementary Protocol will enter into force on the 90th day after the date of deposit of the 40th instrument of ratification, accession, acceptance or approval by the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. It is highly likely that the Supplementary Protocol will receive the remaining 11 instruments of ratification or accession in the weeks and months to come and that it will enter into force in time for the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

The Supplementary Protocol aims to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity by providing international rules and procedures for response measures in the event of damage resulting from living modified organisms.

Denmark joins Albania, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, India, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Syrian Arab Republic, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam, which have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession to the Supplementary Protocol.

Further information on becoming a Party to the Supplementary Protocol is available at:
http://bch.cbd.int/protocol/NKL_ratification.shtml