Article 2.1(b) of the Kyoto Protocol calls on the COP serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, at its first session or as soon as practicable thereafter, to consider ways to facilitate cooperation among Annex I Parties in order to enhance the "individual and combined effectiveness" of their policies and measures to address climate change.

At COP 4 (Buenos Aires, November 1998), as part of the "Buenos Aires Plan of Action", Parties requested the secretariat to prepare a report on "best practices" in policies and measures, based on Annex I Party national communications and any other information submitted by Parties. This report was considered by SBSTA 11 (October/November, 1999).

In response to a further request from COP 4, the secretariat organized a workshop to assess "best practices" in policies and measures, which took place in Copenhagen in April 2000. A report on the workshop was presented to SBSTA 12 (June 2000).

At its twelfth and thirteenth sessions, the SBSTA considered the outcome of the work on “best practices” in policies and measures, defined by decision 8/CP.4, including the report from the workshop on “best practices” in policies and measures. One of the conclusions from this workshop was that given the difference in the national circumstances the concept which may prove to be useful and workable in the advancing of implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol in international context is this of “good practices” instead of that of “best practices”.

The COP, at the first part of its sixth session, considered this issue further. A draft decision was agreed in a contact group, which recognises the value of sharing information on “good practices” in policies and measures and recommends that the work on this issue continue.

The COP, at the same session, requested the secretariat to organize the first workshop of a series under the above mentioned draft decision entitled “Good practices in policies and measures among Parties included in Annex I to the Convention”. It also requested the SBSTA at its fourteenth session to outline the terms of reference for the workshop based on submissions of Parties to be received by 31 March 2001.

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At SBSTA 14 (meeting together with COP 6 part II in Bonn, July 2001), Parties adopted conclusions, based on views submitted by Parties, on the terms of reference for the workshop, due to be held in Copenhagen on 8-10 October 2001. The SBSTA concluded that the workshop should advance work on sharing experience and exchanging information on "good practices", building on the results of the first Copenhagen workshop. Among the issues to be covered by the workshop, within the overall framework of the "good and best practices" concept, were innovative market-based instruments, such as domestic emissions trading, voluntary agreements and the evaluation of the design and effectiveness of policies and measures, taking into account national circumstances. A roundtable discussion with a focus on "best practices" for countries with economies in transition was also envisaged. The SBSTA invited Parties to submit summaries of papers for presentation at the workshop.

Although it adopted the Bonn Agreements on the Implementation of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, registering political agreement on key issues, COP 6 part II failed to complete its work on a decision on "good practices" in policies and measures. The issue was therefore referred to COP 7 (Marrakesh, October/November 2001) for further consideration.