The Biosafety Clearing-House of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

1. The Biosafety Clearing-House of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Tutorial on Registering Information

2. The Biosafety Clearing-House of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Welcome to this tutorial module on the Registering Information section of the Biosafety Clearing-House. In this section you will learn about the creation and management of information in the BCH through its Management Centre.

3. All registered BCH users may submit information to the BCH according to their specific roles. Information is submitted to the BCH through the BCH Management Centre.

4. In order to access the Management Centre, click on the Registering Information link of the green horizontal navigation bar.

5. renie.sulaweyo@tadwil.za ●●●●●●●● Note that only registered users can access the Management Centreand submit information

6. renie.sulaweyo@tadwil.za ●●●●●●●● Fill in the Registered email address field with the e-mail address you used for your BCH registration. Fill in the Password field with the password contained in the automatic message you received when you registered and then click on the Sign in button.

7. renie.sulaweyo@tadwil.za ●●●●●●●● If you select the small checkbox marked Remember mebeside the Registered email address field, your computer will remember your registered e-mail address the next time you sign in to the Management Centre.

8. If you do not have a registered BCH user account you can create one by clicking on the Sign Up for an Account links which appear at the top-right corner of all BCH pages and on the Sign In page too.

9. The Sign Up for an Account link opens the General User Account page where you may provide your contact details and then click on the Submit request button at the bottom of the page. An automatic welcome message containing your BCH password will be sent to your registered email address.

10. If you already have a BCH account, but have forgotten your password, click on the Forgot your password? link and enter your registered e-mail address. A temporary password will be sent to that address.

11. After signing in to the Management Centre, you will find, under the heading Records pending validation prior to publication, any records that need to be reviewed by you for completeness and accuracy prior to validation and publication in the BCH. The validation process will be explained later on in this tutorial.

12. By clicking on the Register a new record link in the left hand menu, registered users can make information available through the BCH.

13. The BCH contains two categories of information: National Records and Reference Records.

14. All registered users may submit Reference Records. These records will be subject to review and validation by the Secretariat prior to publication, including those submitted by BCH National Focal Points (BCH-NFPs).

15. Standard forms, also known as Common Formats, for the registration of information in the BCH are made available both online for direct registration and offline for download (in MS Word format).

16. 1 2 BCH users are encouraged to download and use the offline Common Formats to gather and organize their information prior to completing the online forms.

17. Information should be submitted online through the Management Centre. Once you have collected all the required data, click on the icon corresponding to the online Common Format for which you wish to submit the information.

18. Alternatively, BCH users with limited internet access may complete the offline Common Formats and submit them, duly signed, to the Secretariat, preferably by e-mail, otherwise by fax or postal mail.

19. The contact details of the Secretariat are available from the link Contact us in the left bottom corner of all BCH pages.

20. The submission of National Records is restricted to Biosafety Clearing-House National Focal Points (BCH-NFPs) and National Authorized Users (NAUs). The list of National Records Common Formats on this page will only appear to BCH-NFPs and NAUs.

21. When submitted by BCH-NFPs, National Records are immediately published. On the other hand, all National Records submitted by National Authorized Users (NAUs) will be forwarded to the BCH-NFP for review for completeness and accuracy and validation prior to publication.

22. Unlike the other Common Formats, nominations of National Focal Points can only be registered by the Secretariat upon receipt of official written communications addressed to the Executive Secretary and endorsed by the relevant authorities.

23. Therefore, this particular form is only made available as an offline Common Formatand cannot be submitted online.

24. A link, in place of the online registration icon, provides an explanatory note describing which authorities are responsible for nominating the different categories of National Focal Point.

25. When creating new records, BCH users should ensure that their information is as accurate and complete as possible prior to publication. Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk. Records lacking mandatory information cannot be published and the missing mandatory information will be highlighted once the draft record has been saved.

26. All BCH Common Formats must be completed in at least one of the 6 official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).

27. Please note that the Specify Language button, which appears at the top of the online registration form, also allows BCH users to choose any other language to submit their information.

28. BCH users may attach documents to their records in any language. However, they are strongly encouraged to provide courtesy translations of the documents in one or more of the 6 official UN languages, preferably one that is commonly used internationally.

29. The Review button, at both the top and the bottom of the onlineCommon Format, allows BCH users to review their information as it will appear in the record when published

30. The Review page also indicates mandatory fields that have not been completed. It is very important to review the record for completeness and accuracy prior to submission for publication.

31. The Save Changes button, at both the top and the bottom of the online Common Format, allows you to either submit the record for publishing or save it as a draft. A saved draft will then be available in the Edit a draft record section for access at a later time.

32. The Cancel button, at both the top and the bottom of the online Common Format, allows you to cancel the changes you have made.

33. In many Common Formats some fields refer to information that is registered in other BCH categories of record. Let us take as an example the references to the Recipient organism or parental organisms that are required when registering an LMO.

34. When you click on the Select a reference button, you may select an existing reference from the list that appears.

35. If the reference you need is not available on the list, you may Create a new record in that category.

36. In this case, the new online Common Format will appear on the screen over the one that was under editing and will have to be completed and published before it is made available in the dropdown reference list.

37. For this reason, it is always recommended that you complete all the required offline Common Formats in order to gather the necessary information prior to filling in the online Common Formats.

38. When completing the offline Common Formats, references to other BCH records may be provided either by typing the BCH record number or, when new records are required, by attaching the additional relevant Common Formats.

39. In some cases, depending on the answer given, different questions will be asked. In the online Common Format these questions will appear on the screen.

40. . For example, in the online Common Format for the submission of information on Gene or DNA sequence, the section named Characteristics of the protein coding sequence appears only if the option Protein coding sequence is selected in the Category of DNA sequence question.

41. Similarly, different subcategories of Related trait(s) or use(s) in biotechnology become available depending upon the selection made under the Related trait(s) or use(s) in biotechnology.

42. For the offline Common Formats there is a similar kind of redirection. This is done by indicatingthe section to be completed next depending upon the answer provided.

43. When electronic documents must be made available through the online Common Formats, you can attach the document and/or provide an internet address (URL). However, you are strongly encouraged to attach the relevant document(s) because URLs may change in the future.

44. All Common Formats provide an Additional Information field at the end of the record where you can add free text, provide an internet address (URL) and/or attach additional file(s).

45. Some categories of information, such as Competent National Authorities, require confirmation or update after one year from the date of submission. After the deadline, the author of the record will be asked to confirm or update the record within 3 months. If this has not been done at the expiry of this period, the record will be marked as “Not confirmed”.

46. In some cases, an expiration period is optional and the author is asked, when registering the record, to indicate whether confirmation or updating is required after two years from the date of submission.

47. Back to the main page of the Management Centre, by clicking on the Edit a published record link in the left hand menu, you can edit or delete any existing record that you have previously published in the BCH. You can filter by record types in order to quickly identify the category of record you wish to edit/delete. You can then select the specific record and edit it.

48. By clicking on the Edit a draft record link in the left hand menu, you may edit or delete any existing drafts that you have previously saved. All saved draft records are made available through this page.

49. Just as with the Edit a published record function, you can filter by record types in order to quickly identify the category of draft record you are looking for. Please note that Draft National Records saved here may be accessed by the BCH-NFP and any NAU for editing and/or publication.

50. Under the Personal Account section you can access your Profile which contains your contact details. Please be sure to promptly update this page when your contacts change.