Kazakhstan intends to introduce criminal liability for illegal circulation, sale and theft of dangerous pathogens. Such measures are contained in the new Biosecurity Bill, which was approved on the first reading by the members of the lower house of the Kazakh parliament. The document was presented in the Mazhilis by the country’s Health Minister Alexey Tsoy. According to him, 25 billion tenge (US$57.4 million) of the state budget is provided for its implementation. This amount will cover the social protection of specialized employees, the equipping of the state laboratory base, the creation and maintenance of a unified information system in the field of biosafety, as well as the maintenance of the collections of microorganisms. Overall, the bill amends 13 legislative acts, including three codes and 10 laws. Tsoy also explained the methods and rules of biological protection of the country from dangerous pathogens and industrial microorganisms within the new draft law.
“Storage mechanisms will be set out in separate legal and regulatory acts, which will specify appropriate storage organization requirements, proper facility protection conditions and required temperature conditions, as well as logistics, deliveries, and transportation of these pathological agents to the storage base. Security will be organized through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that is, the entire regulations, each step will be clearly outlined in terms of interaction algorithms and security requirements for facilities,” Tsoy said.
Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova
Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova
Web-editor: Admin
Related Articles
