Geneva, Switzerland, from 7 to 8 March 2024 (part I) and from 9 to 11 October 2024 (part II)
Format: The first part of the first meeting of small intersessional working group on the improvement of the functioning of the prior informed consent procedure was convened face-to-face. Registered members or observers not in a position to participate in person in the meeting received, upon request to the Secretariat, an online viewer access allowing them to follow the meeting without the right to intervene.
The second part of the first meeting was convened face-to-face. Due to budgetary restrictions an online viewer access was not provided for this meeting.
Highlights: The group is mandated to identify challenges in the implementation of the prior informed consent procedure under the Basel Convention and best practices, possible approaches and initiatives to improve its functioning, taking into account the compilation and synthesis of information received from Parties and observers, the discussion during the thirteenth and fourteenth meetings of the Open-ended Working Group, views expressed at the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and ongoing work under the Convention, and to develop recommendations for improving the functioning of the procedure, avoiding duplication of work and ensuring consistency for consideration by the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
During the first part of its first meeting, the small intersessional working group exchanged views on the draft of the report, prepared by the lead country, as revised based on the comments provided by the members of group. Following that meeting prior to the meeting. The second draft of the report, as revised by the lead country, in consultation with the SIWG, was made available in document INF/4 for consideration by OEWG-14.
The second part of the meeting took place from 9 to 11 October 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland, back-to-back with the third part of the first meeting of the small intersessional working group on the strategic framework. The group further considered the report revised to take into account the outcome of the Open-ended Working Group at its fourteenth meeting and submissions from Parties and observers as well as submissions from Parties and observer made by 3 June 2024 and 31 August 2024. The Secretariat gratefully acknowledges the European Union and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation for their generous financial support to the work of the small intersessional working group on the improvement of the functioning of the prior informed consent procedure.
Working language: English