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The Cooperation
Agreement concerning Biosafety
(Last revised:
February 28, 2006
)
 Hyperlink
version of the Cooperation Agreement (Dutch - French) |
The Cooperation Agreement between the Federal State and the Regions on the administrative and scientific co-ordination concerning Biosafety establishes a single scientific advisory system common to the Federal and Regional authorities. Thanks to this system, all scientific aspects related to the uses of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and pathogens are assessed altogether in a coordinated way, independently of the specific concerned regulation(s). The cooperation agreement aims at: |
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Federal State: Law of 3 March 1998 (Full text The common scientific evaluation system is composed of the Biosafety Advisory Council and the Service of Biosafety and Biotechnology.
The Biosafety Advisory Council (BAC)
advices the competent authorities about the safety of any activities using
GMOs and pathogens, including genetic and ecological aspects related to
biodiversity.
The missions, composition and functioning of the Council are described in article
5 to 11 of the Cooperation Agreement.
The Council can be consulted by the Regions or the SBB for the contained
use activities (laboratories, greenhouses, animal husbandries, production
plants). It must be consulted for the deliberate release of GMOs in the environment
and the placing on the market of all GMOs and GMOs-based products.
The Council consists of representatives of the Regional and Federal authorities.
It is assisted by experts in its scientific work. The secretariat of the
Council is ensured by the SBB.
More information is available from the Web site of the Biosafety Advisory Council |
The Service
of Biosafety and Biotechnology (SBB) is
composed of an administrative secretariat, a multidisciplinary group of
scientists and a laboratory for biosafety research and expertise.
According
to the Cooperation agreement (articles 12 and 18), the SBB is mainly in charge
of the following practical tasks:
- risk assessment of contained use activities: the SBB defines the specific normative criteria to be applied in a given installation on a case by case basis and advices the Regional authority about the licencing conditions from the biosafety viewpoint;
- risk assessment of applications for the deliberate release of GMOs in the environment or for the placing on the market of GMOs, GMO-based or GMO-derived products, for which the SBB has been mandated by the Biosafety Advisory Council;
- secretariat of the Biosafety Advisory Council;
- proposal of protection measures related to human health and the environment, to the attention of the Biosafety Advisory Council or the authorities;
- archiving of the biosafety dossiers and safeguard of confidential information;
- communication of relevant information to the European Commission in the framework of the follow-up of EU Directives pertaining to GMOs;
- scientific support to the Belgian delegation at international meetings.
| More information is available from the "SBB Chapter" on this Web site |
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