Yesterday, on December 5, 2024, an important event in international environmental law took place. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted for the basic version of the draft Law “On the Ratification of Amendments to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters” No 0272 dated 16.05.2024.
In the spring of 2024, Ukraine finally registered in the parliament a draft law on the ratification of an amendment to the Aarhus Convention on genetically modified organisms (GMO amendment). This amendment was adopted back in 2005 at the 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the Convention in Almaty (Kazakhstan). It concerns public participation in decision-making regarding the deliberate release into the environment and placing on the market of genetically modified organisms. The GMO amendment supplements the Aarhus Convention with a new Article 6-bis, which provides for the obligation of the state to provide information to the public in a timely, complete and effective manner and a possibility to participate in the procedure for granting permission by authorized bodies for the deliberate release into the environment or placing on the market of genetically modified organisms.
Nevertheless, the amendment did not take effect for almost 20 years. The matter is that for it to enter into force, it must be ratified by three quarters (27) of the states that were Parties to the Convention at the time of its adoption. As of December 4, 2024, 32 countries had ratified the amendment, but only 26 of them were Parties to the Convention at the time of its adoption. The international community had been waiting for this latest ratification for many years, and yesterday, thanks to Ukraine, it finally got it.
The amendment will enter into force on the ninetieth day after the Depository receives the document of its ratification from Ukraine. We look forward to the earliest possible transfer of the ratification document to the Depository and entry into force of the GMO amendment.
