Perspective on OECD activities from a non-member country.

The OECD Blue Book, "Recombinant DNA: Safety Considerations" was published in 1986. The developed principles and concepts on the stepwise and case-by-case approach for risk assessment in the Blue Book have been used as a foundation for building national biosafety frameworks and international instruments for the regulation of the products of modern biotechnology. Twenty years after the Blue Book was published, OECD continues its activities on unique identifier systems, information-sharing, consensus documents for the biology of crops, trees and microorganisms with respect to harmonization of regulatory oversight and those of novel food and feed safety. These activities benefit, without any doubt, the international community at large, including OECD non-member countries. In order to strengthen its position in the international arena and to better respond to the needs of the changing world, OECD would be encouraged to participate in a more active manner in the technology transfer process and co-existence debate, together with continuing the organization's efforts on information-sharing and harmonization in the field of biotechnology and biosafety.