Mr. Chair,

India congratulates you on assuming the Chair of MX3 and assures you of our full support and cooperation for steering our meeting to productive outcomes.

Today’s meeting provides an important opportunity for a discussion where States parties can share understandings and perspectives on effective national implementation and suggest ways to further strengthen the implementation of the Convention. We thank the delegations of IraqandCuba, for their excellent presentations outlining efforts not only to implement the Convention at the national level but also to help the international community. We also thank France, Vertic, the Organization of American States their presentations as well.

In the same spirit, India wishes to share its experiences with fellow States Parties:

• With rapid advancements in biology and biotechnology, India has put in place stringent, practical regulations and guidelines for ensuring biosafety and biosecurity towards protection of public health and environment and laid down mechanisms for safe handling of biological research by scientists and laboratories.
• Apart from a robust legislative framework, India has streamlined the biosafety regulatory process and framework during 2020-21. With the tremendous increase in regulatory submissions during the pandemic, India’s Department of Biotechnology has taken a number of measures:
• Firstly, Indian Biosafety Knowledge Portal (IBKP):In line with Government of India’s ease of doing business and digital India, an online web portal namely India, Biosafety Knowledge Portal (IBKP), has been launched in May 2019 by Department of Biotechnology that not only maintains the transparencyandaccountability but also enabled uninterrupted submission as well as review of applications during the pandemic thereby strengthening the regulatory framework.
• Handbook for Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBSCs), 2020: The revised edition has been notified in September 2020 to update IBSCs’ recent reforms including decentralized regulatory powers to IBSC and online mechanism of regulatory process through the Indian Biosafety Knowledge Portal. This handbook lays down procedures for implementation of the biosafety and biosecurity concerns within an Institution. It provides information on processes to be followed while dealing with GE organisms & non-GE hazardous microorganisms in line with Rules, 1989 and guidelines issued by DBT from time to time.
• Guidelines for the Establishment of Containment Facilities (BSL2 and BSL3 and Certification of BSL3 facility 2020): Working with high-risk pathogens requires diligence from the laboratory workers to maintain safe laboratory conditions and with increasing number of BSL-2 and above facilities Department of Biotechnology embarked on instituting the Guidelines for the Establishment of Containment Facilities (BSL2 and BSL3 and Certification of BSL3 facility 2020). The Guidance document covers the basic underlying principles and standard to be considered while establishing BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratory including its testing, commissioning and validation.
• To enable rapid response to emerging situations, India has put in place measures to fast-track approval process of applications for research and development activities of vaccines, diagnostics, prophylactics and therapeutics on COVID-19.
• In order to facilitate seamless research on recombinant DNA technology in various research institutions and industry, DBT allowed Institutional Biosafety Committees to conduct their meetings through video conferencing while ensuring the safety of laboratory personnel and the environment.

Mr. Chair,

Furthermore, the Indian Council for Medical Research, in 2020, supplemented National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving Human participants released earlier in 2017 through the release of National Guidelines for ethics committees reviewing biomedical and health research.

Mr. Chair,

India has been submitting its CBM reports in a timely manner.India has undertaken the requisite steps and measures  in order to effectively implement the  UN Security Council Resolution 1540 and regularly reports on these measures. In addition to above, India is a member of the Australia Group and follows the various guidelines for export controls in order to prevent any unauthorized trade in biological agents and materials.

Mr. Chair,

We hope that the sharing of best practices and experiences of States Parties in national implementation, will further enrich our perspectives for full and effective implementation of the BWC.

I thank you