The Facilitator reported that during the informal-informals on Cross Cutting, Institutional Arrangements held on 1 March 2023, significant progress was made towards finalizing provisions. On Article 48 bis on Transparency, the text is now clean. Continuing on from the work done in the small working group on Article 49 (Scientific and Technical Body) there was strong support for paragraph 1 as drafted “A Scientific and Technical body is hereby established” and for paragraphs 2 and 3, reflecting the outcome of the small working group. The remaining reservations were lifted on the text proposed as a compromise in paragraph 4 to accommodate traditional knowledge. It was agreed that the text of Article 49 would include one clean version reflecting the general agreement in the room, with a second version of this Article with proposals in track changes, and the Facilitator asked interested delegations to consult towards finalising this provision. Article 50 relating to the Secretariat is also clean. Therefore the only remaining issue on Article 50 is the question of whether Option A (a secretariat is established) or Option B (The secretariat function shall fall under DOALOS) is selected. Most delegations prefer Option A, although it was noted that one regional group is still consulting on this matter.
