An advance copy (subject to clearance) is now available of the decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at its 6th meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, 7-19 April 2002. See http://www.biodiv.org/doc/decisions/cop-06-dec-en.pdf or contact [email protected]. The 279-page document covers some topics relevant to applications of biotechnology in food and agriculture, such as the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol. The COP calls upon countries to ratify the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, the International Plant Protection Convention and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which was adopted by the FAO Conference on 3 November 2001. Another decision invites FAO to study the potential impacts of the applications of Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs) in the framework of the ITPGRFA, and to consider GURTs in the further development of the Code of Conduct on Biotechnology as it relates to Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which will be discussed in the 9th Regular Session of FAO`s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, in October 2002.

12/06/2002