OECD Consensus Documents

The Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology Working Party serves as a forum for exchanging approaches and experiences in environmental risk/safety assessments of organisms produced through modern biotechnology, aiming to improve mutual understanding and to increase the efficiency of the assessments. Products of biotechnology products are assessed by their developers during their elaboration and by governments when ready for release, to ensure high safety standards. These risk/safety assessments, conducted through a scientifically sound approach, inform biosafety regulators and support the decision concerning the release of novel organisms in the environment.

The OECD offers long-standing recognised expertise in biosafety and contributes to facilitating a harmonised approach. The environmental risk/safety assessment of transgenic organisms is usually based on the information collected on the characteristics of the host organism, the introduced traits, the environment into which the organism will be released, the interaction between these factors and the intended use of the organism. The OECD consensus documents identify parts of this information that could be commonly used in countries when conducting environmental risk/safety assessments, aiming to encourage information sharing and prevent duplication of effort among countries. They offer practical tools which compile science-based information. These documents are publicly available and considered worldwide as sustainable references for use in biosafety evaluation.