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Select committee: International Agreements Committee

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement

Closed Opened 13 Nov 2023 Closed 19 Mar 2024

International Agreements Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
The Committee has invited evidence on the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, a UN treaty which was agreed in March 2023. The Government notified the treaty to Parliament in October 2023 under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2020 (CRAG)

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 13 November 2023.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 2nd Report - Scrutiny of international agreements: Agreement on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdictions: the UN Oceans Treaty on 19 December 2023.

The government's response

Published 19 March 2024.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes parliamentary scrutiny of the BBNJ Agreement, says it intends to ratify once implementing legislation is enacted, and commits to an update to Parliament before that legislation is introduced.

  • On ratification, it gives no target date: it "intends to ratify the Agreement as soon as legislation has been enacted and the UK is in a position to comply with obligations in the Agreement".
  • On funding, it says it is "committed to working with and supporting others, in particular developing countries", and notes a £50,000 contribution to the Voluntary Trust Fund on 28 June 2023 and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Secretariat.
  • On financial information, it says "there is no definitive financial information to provide at this stage", though the UK believes its annual contribution "could total up to £1million".
  • On the Explanatory Memorandum, it states the information "was complete at the time the Agreement was laid for scrutiny and remains so", and that 21 sitting days "provides sufficient opportunity" for scrutiny.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Correspondence

1 letter

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PublishedDirectionLetter
19 Dec 2023 From committee Letter to Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith KC, Chair from Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, Minister for Development and Africa