A Japanese approach to the domestic implementation of the Supplementary Protocol

At the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (COP-MOP) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Cartagena Protocol), which was held in Nagoya, Japan, the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Supplementary Protocol) was adopted on 15 October 2010. This finally resolved the issue that had been left open by Article 27 of the Cartagena Protocol, which mandated an elaboration of rules on liability and redress for damage to biodiversity resulting from living modified organisms (LMOs). In other words, the Supplementary Protocol established a system of liability for ‘biodiversity damage’ caused by LMOs subject to transboundary movements.