2. The Global Forum on Biotechnology

The Global Forum on Biotechnology, established in 2010, is one of 16 Global Forums created by OECD Committees. Global Forums are generally not official OECD bodies, but are best described as broad communities or networks of stakeholders in the areas of responsibility of one or more Committees. OECD Committees have an interest in hearing the views of these stakeholders, but their capacity to accommodate (non-Member) partners as participants is limited.

Collaboration continues with partner countries and international organisations involved in biosafety, in particular on the occasion of the annual meetings of the OECD Working Parties i) on the Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology, and ii) for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds in April 2023. Due to ressource shortage, no support could be provided to non-member delegates for their participation this year. However, these events were attended (mostly online) by delegates from Brazil, Croatia, South Africa, Argentina, Paraguay, Philippines, Uruguay, the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (AUDA-NEPAD), and other observer Organisations. Thanks to this co-operation developed under the umbrella of the Global Forum on Biotechnology, experts of nonmember economies contribute to on-going projects by drafting documents, providing comments, and sharing information on their latest biosafety and novel food/feed safety developments in the published annual ‘tour-de-table’ documents. In addition, several Partner countries share information on approved GE plant varieties on regular basis for inclusion into the OECD BioTrack Product Database.