Would the Cartagena protocol have been constructed differently with more public sector input?
Although it is difficult to say to whether the Protocol would have been constructed differently had the public sector been involved more actively, we cannot exclude that a number of provisions would have been phrased differently. For example, the current AIA procedure applies in cases of ‘introduction into the environment’ in the importing country, regardless whether this introduction into the environment is a small scale confined field trial or a large scale commercial application. Active participation of the public research sector could have resulted in a better appreciation of the need for – and appropriateness of – differentiation. Similarly, the information requirements for notifications might have been set up with more differentiation.
