Parliamentary Assembly Experts Prepared Draft Recommendations on CSTO Medical and Biological Security

At a meeting of the Expert Advisory Council under the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly held on March 28 in St Petersburg, experts discussed a number of initiatives, including the draft Recommendations on Legislative Support of Sanitary and Epidemiological (Medical and Biological) Security of the CSTO Member States.

“Ensuring biosecurity is one of the fundamental components of the overall security system ensuring stable development of states. At present, there is a steady tendency in the world towards an increasing number of biological threats, which may lead to complications in the sanitary and epidemiological situation and the emergence of public health emergencies in the territory of the CSTO Member States,” the draft document reads.

The threats mentioned included unchecked dangerous technogenic activities and the possibility of giving new characteristics to pathogenic biological agents, including the use of genetically engineered and synthetic biology technologies, “primarily in biological laboratories operating on the territory of some CSTO Member States, as well as in a number of neighbouring states run by the United States.”

The aim of the discussed initiative is to develop proposals on harmonization of the national legislation of the CSTO Member States on ensuring biological safety and formation of the unified legislative framework aimed at protection of the population of the CSTO Member States and environmental protection from impacts of hazardous biological factors.

As you may recall, the Recommendations on Legislative Support of Sanitary and Epidemiological (Medical and Biological) Security of the CSTO Member States were prepared in accordance with the 2021–2025 Action Plan of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization on Approximation and Harmonization of National Legislation of the CSTO Member States.