ABSTRACT
One main common element Contact Group 1 (CG-1) found in the definitions examined was that most definitions aim to define the aspect of ‘newness’ or ‘novelty’. The latter definitions use the fact that a technique or process has been used to alter an organism as the reason to call the resulting organism a genetically modified organism. One of the pleasing things about CG-1 was that it could let an item rest for a while and pick up another term with a fresh start, whether it was another definition or, for example, an annex on information requirements. Somewhere in the middle of the discussion on living modified organisms, Sub-Working Group 1 (SWG-1) asked CG-1 to get its teeth into the term ‘products thereof’, which had caused SWG-1 to get bogged down several times. As is practice in many United Nations negotiations, the negotiating body divided the items for negotiation in two clusters and split itself in two working groups.
