The Aarhus Convention (i.e. the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters) was adopted in June 1998 in Aarhus, Denmark. It is "not only an environmental agreement, it is also a Convention about government accountability, transparency and responsiveness. The Aarhus Convention grants the public rights and imposes on Parties and public authorities obligations regarding access to information and public participation and access to justice". Since adoption of the Convention, five tasks forces and working groups have been established, one of them on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The third and last meeting of this working group was held on 17-19 June 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland. The report of this, and the other, meetings is available at http://www.unece.org/env/pp/gmo.htm (in English, French and Russian) or contact [email protected] for more information.

11/11/2002