. 
Now that many of the EU Member States have enacted national implementing legislation and established their competent national authorities (CNA), there is a great demand for infor-mation sharing between the responsible authorities on technical and structural processes as well as on early implementation experiences. This exchange promotes not only the develop-ment of these processes but also fosters joint learning, mutual support and harmonization among the EU Member States. 
Against this background and following a successful first meeting of European CNAs last year in Germany, the German CNA – a designated unit at the Federal Agency for Nature Conser-vation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN) – organized another informal meeting of the EU CNAs implementing the Nagoya Protocol and the EU ABS Regulation from 23 to 26 April 2018 at BfN’s International Academy for Nature Conservation, located on the Isle of Vilm, Germany.