ABSTRACT
Agricultural commodities, or, according to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, ‘living modified organisms intended for direct use as food or feed, or for processing (LMO-FFPs)’, became increasingly prominent towards the end of the negotiations and ended up as one of the key issues to be resolved at the final meeting. The meeting also identified the central role of information and capacity-building in dealing with commodities under the protocol and the belief that any measure applied to commodities should be applied by the importer. At the beginning of the meeting, the contact group on scope received a mandate to reach an agreement on commodities and LMOs destined for deliberate release into the environment. Regarding LMO-FFPs, the Vienna meeting was a significant success, both in terms of substance and the negotiation dynamic. The Compromise Group provided an additional text, which the chairman integrated into Mr Mayr draft proposal. This proposal was provided in advance of the Montreal meeting.
