Membership

The current “Members” of the Compact are BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow Agrosciences, DuPont, Monsanto Company and Syngenta. The goal is broad membership among others in the biotechnology industry. Any entity, whether a private company, public research facility or government agency can become a Member of the Compact.

The benefit of joining the Compact for any such member is to have one’s responsibility for damage to biological diversity determined in a neutral adjudicatory process premised on science-based evidence with self-contained and well-defined standards and terms.

The requirements for becoming a Member are: (1) commitment to being a good steward of LMOs and biological diversity; (2) rigorous risk assessments for LMOs; and (3) financial capacity to provide a remedy ordered by a tribunal. Specific ideas for facilitating broad membership will be developed on advice of the Advisory Committee.

The cost of joining the Compact is one’s pro rata share of operating costs, any costs incurred by that Member in defending a claim, and the costs of providing any remedy. The certainty of the Compact’s processes is intended to encourage the availability of insurance to cover some of these costs. Such insurance should both facilitate potential Members’ ability to demonstrate the financial capacity to join the Compact and create the incentive for doing so.

To assure that no entity will be disadvantaged by not joining the Compact, the Compact cannot and does not have any impact on non-Members. A non-Member will remain subject to the same applicable laws and liability systems as if the Compact never existed.