Editing Biosecurity (section)

==International agreements and guidelines==
===Agricultural biosecurity and human health===
[[File:Vervoersverbod sign.jpg|thumb|Biosecurity sign for use on a farm or agricultural area experiencing [[swine fever]] (Dutch example)]]

Various international organisations, international bodies and legal instruments and agreements make up a worldwide governance framework for biosecurity.<ref name=infosan/>

Standard-setting organisations include the [[Codex Alimentarius Commission]] (CAC), the [[World Organisation for Animal Health]] (OIE) and the [[Commission on Phytosanitary Measures]] (CPM) develop standards pertinent to their focuses, which then become international reference points through the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO)'s [[Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures]] (SPS Agreement), created in 1995.<ref name=infosan/> This agreement requires all members of the WTO to consider all import requests concerning agricultural products from other countries.<ref>{{cite book | chapter=Chapter 5: Biosecurity and food safety |others=Published online 14 April 2013 | url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/foodprocessing/foodprocessing/report/c05 | access-date=23 May 2020|title= Inquiry into Australia's food processing sector|date= 16 August 2012|isbn =978-1-74229-657-9}}</ref> Broadly, the measures covered by the agreement are those aimed at the protection of human, animal or plant life or health from certain risks.<ref>Peter Van den Bossche and Werner Zdouc, The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization: Text, Cases and Materials (Cambridge University Press, 2013) 834.</ref>

Other important global and regional agreements include the [[International Health Regulations]] (IHR, 2005), the [[International Plant Protection Convention]] (IPPC), the [[Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety]], the [[Codex Alimentarius]], the [[Convention on Biological Diversity]] (CBD) and the [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT, 1947).<ref name=infosan/><ref name=ozag>{{cite web | title=Australia's international biosecurity obligations | website=Department of Agriculture | url=https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/risk-analysis/conducting/international-obligations | access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref><ref name=ozhealth>{{cite web | title=Protecting Australia's Health Through Human Biosecurity | website=Department of Health | date=27 September 2017 | url=https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-biosec-protect-aus-health.htm | access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref>

The UN [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO), the [[International Maritime Organization]] (IMO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ([[OECD]]) and WHO are the most important organisations associated with biosecurity.<ref name=infosan/>

The IHR is a legally binding agreement on 196 nations, including all member states of WHO. Its purpose and scope is "to prevent, protect against, control, and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks and that avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade", "to help the international community prevent and respond to acute public health risks that have the potential to cross borders and threaten people worldwide".<ref>{{cite web | title=What are the International Health Regulations and Emergency Committees? | website=WHO | date=19 December 2019 | url=https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/what-are-the-international-health-regulations-and-emergency-committees | access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref>

===Biological weapons===
* The [[Biological Weapons Convention]] was the first multilateral [[disarmament]] treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons, being [[biological weapon]]s.<ref>{{cite web | title=Biological Weapons:The Biological Weapons Convention | website= United Nations | date=10 April 1972 | url=https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/ | access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) At A Glance | website=Arms Control Association | date=28 January 2004 | url=https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/bwc | access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref>
* ''UN Resolution 1540'' (2004) "affirms that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The resolution obliges States, inter alia, to refrain from supporting by any means non-State actors from developing, acquiring, manufacturing, possessing, transporting, transferring or using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery". Resolution 2325, reaffirming 1540, was adopted unanimously on 15 December 2016.<ref>{{cite web | title=1540 Committee (Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004)): 1540 Fact Sheet| website=United Nations | date=28 April 2004 | url=https://www.un.org/en/sc/1540/1540-fact-sheet.shtml|access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref>

===Laboratory safety===
*''OECD Best Practice Guidelines for Biological Resource Centres'', a consensus report created in 2001 after experts from [[OECD]] countries came together, calling upon "national governments to undertake actions to bring the BRC concept into being in concert with the international scientific community". BRCs are "repositories and providers of high-quality biological materials and information".<ref>{{cite web | title=OECD Best Practice Guidelines for Biological Resource Centres | website=[[OECD]] | url=http://www.oecd.org/sti/emerging-tech/oecdbestpracticeguidelinesforbiologicalresourcecentres.htm | access-date=23 May 2020}} [http://www.oecd.org/sti/emerging-tech/2487422.pdf pdf]</ref>