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<< Notifications of 2000

Notifications to the Parties

No. 2000/051 Geneva, 31 August 2000

CONCERNING:

Review of the criteria for amendment of Appendices I and II

1. In adopting Resolution Conf. 9.24 on criteria for amendment of Appendices I and II, the Parties recommended "that the text and the annexes of this Resolution be fully reviewed before the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties with regard to the scientific validity of the criteria, definitions, notes and guidelines and their applicability to different groups of organisms".

2. At its 11th meeting, the Conference of the Parties adopted document Doc. 11.25, as amended, thus initiating the process of conducting the above-mentioned review.

3. The Conference agreed to the following initial elements of the review:

a) First meeting of the Criteria Working Group (took place 2-4 August 2000 in Canberra, Australia;

b) Consultation of all Parties on the report of the Criteria Working Group (purpose of this Notification to the Parties); and

c) Joint meeting of the Animals and Plants Committees to discuss the report of the Criteria Working Group and the comments received from the Parties (this meeting will take place from 7 to 9 December 2000 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, United States of America; see Notification to the Parties 2000/38).

4. Future procedure involves:

a) Preparation of a report of the joint meeting by the Chairmen of the Plants and Animals Committees;

b) A second round of consultation of all Parties on the report referred to under 4.a);

c) Preparation by the Chairmen of the Animals and Plants Committees of a final report for submission to the Standing Committee for approval; and

d) Submission of the final report by the Standing Committee for consideration at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

5. If necessary, the Criteria Working Group can be reconvened between phases b) and c) above.

6. Attached to this Notification is the first report of the Criteria Working Group, including recommendations and suggestions for possible amendments and further discussion.

7. The Parties are requested to provide the Secretariat with their comments on this report not later than 15 October 2000.

8. The Secretariat will incorporate all comments received into a document that will be submitted to the joint meeting of the Animals and Plants Committees.