The Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress is a treaty adopted under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) framework. It supplements the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which governs the transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs) — broadly, genetically modified organisms capable of reproducing.
The Supplementary Protocol was adopted on 15 October 2010 at the fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol, held in Nagoya, Japan. It is named jointly for Nagoya and for Kuala Lumpur, where earlier negotiating rounds took place. It entered into force on 5 March 2018, ninety days after the fortieth instrument of ratification was deposited.
The instrument addresses a gap left by Article 27 of the Cartagena Protocol, which called for elaboration of international rules on liability and redress for damage resulting from transboundary movements of LMOs. Key features include:
- An administrative approach to liability: parties must require the operator responsible for damage to take response measures (such as preventing, minimising, containing, or restoring biological diversity), or authorise competent authorities to do so and recover costs.
- A definition of "damage" centred on adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity that are measurable and significant, also taking into account risks to human health.
- Provisions on causation, exemptions (e.g., act of God, armed conflict), time limits, and financial security, with much detail left to domestic law.
- A residual civil-liability track, allowing parties to apply existing or new domestic civil liability rules.
The treaty is administratively grounded rather than imposing a uniform civil liability regime, reflecting compromise between exporting countries (notably major LMO producers, several of which are not parties to the Cartagena Protocol) and importing developing states that pushed for stricter rules. The CBD Secretariat in Montreal services the Protocol.
Example
In 2018, following entry into force, parties such as the EU and several African states began aligning domestic biosafety legislation to meet the Supplementary Protocol's response-measure obligations for LMO-related damage.
Frequently asked questions
They are separate instruments. The Nagoya Protocol (2010) governs access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing under the CBD. The Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol addresses liability and redress for LMO damage under the Cartagena Protocol.
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