Washington, DC
February, 2008
International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Discussion
Paper No. 753
Regional Biotechnology Regulations - Design Options and
Implications for Good Governance
Regina Birner and Nicholas Linacre
Abstract
Many developing countries
are currently in the process of designing regulatory systems
that should allow them to use genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) for agricultural development, while also managing the
food safety and environmental risks potentially associated
with these technologies. Various regions of the developing
world are seeking to establish regional systems of
biotechnology regulation. However, considerable costs are
associated with biotechnology regulation, and biosafety
specialists are scarce. In addition, there is no consistent
understanding of how regional systems of biotechnology
regulation can be designed to be effective and efficient,
while also fulfilling the principles of good governance,
such as transparency, voice and accountability, control of
corruption, and avoidance of special interest capture. There
are a wide variety of possible regional approaches,
differing with regard to the level of centralization, the
scope of the regional system, the types of regional
institutions and processes, and the types of financing
mechanisms. Here, based on findings in the fields of
environmental and fiscal federalism and transaction costs
economics, we develop a conceptual framework for the
assessment of regional systems of biotechnology regulation.
The framework specifies design options and assessment
criteria, and identifies major trade-offs and their
mediating factors. We use the case of West Africa to
illustrate this framework, and refer to the European Union
for comparison. Our analysis indicates that involving
regional experts, stakeholders and policy-makers in the
design of a regional regulatory system will help fill
knowledge gaps and generate conclusions regarding the
trade-offs involved in regional biotechnology regulation.
Full text:
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/IFPRIDP00753.pdf |
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