The Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology Working Party serves as a forum for exchanging approaches and experiences in environmental risk/safety assessments of organisms produced through modern biotechnology, aiming to improve mutual understanding and to increase the efficiency of the assessments.

Products of biotechnology products are assessed by their developers during their elaboration and by governments when ready for release, to ensure high safety standards. These risk/safety assessments, conducted through a scientifically sound approach, inform biosafety regulators and support the decision concerning the release of novel organisms in the environment.

The OECD offers long-standing recognised expertise in biosafety and contributes to facilitating a harmonised approach. The environmental risk/safety assessment of transgenic organisms is usually based on the information collected on the characteristics of the host organism, the introduced traits, the environment into which the organism will be released, the interaction between these factors and the intended use of the organism.

The OECD consensus documents identify parts of this information that could be commonly used in countries when conducting environmental risk/safety assessments, aiming to encourage information sharing and prevent duplication of effort among countries. They offer practical tools which compile science-based information. These documents are publicly available and considered worldwide as sustainable references for use in biosafety evaluation. 

The Novel Food and Feed Working Party serves as a forum for exchanging approaches and experience in risk/safety assessments of novel foods and feeds derived from modern biotechnology, improve mutual understanding and increase the assessment efficiency;

The need for sustainable solutions to feed growing populations is being met by new food sources for example food produced from modified or gene edited plants, proteins produced by bio fermentation and animal cell cultured products.

Novel products should be assessed by governments to ensure high safety standards for the environment, human food and animal feed. Such assessments are considered essential for healthy and sustainable agriculture, industry and trade.

The consensus documents compile science-based information and data relevant to this task. The key composition elements that they contain can be used to compare novel foods and feeds with conventional ones. These documents, agreed by consensus among countries and published by the OECD, constitute a solid reference recognised internationally. As such, these publications should be of value to applicants when developing novel food products and to regulators and risk assessors in national authorities in charge of granting approvals for products of biotechnology well as to the wider scientific community.