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The Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House
Article 14 establishes an Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House as part of the Clearing-House of the Convention. It shall serve as a means for sharing information related to access and benefit-sharing. In particular it shall provide access to information made available by each Party relevant to the implementation of the Protocol.
Work has been carried out on the development of the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House since the adoption of the Protocol. Prior to the
first meeting of the
Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol (ICNP), an
expert meeting on the modalities of operation of the ABS Clearing-House was held in April 2011 to examine practical considerations related to the establishment of the ABS Clearing-House with a view to provide input to the first meeting of the ICNP and to assist countries with the early ratification and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. To assist the experts in their deliberations, a study (document
UNEP/CBD/ABS/EM-CH/1/2) was commissioned on the issue by the Executive Secretary. The report of the expert meeting (document
UNEP/CBD/ABS/EM-CH/1/4) was put forward to the first meeting of the ICNP for its consideration.
At the
first meeting of the ICNP, Parties recommended that the first phase of the ABS Clearing-House be a pilot phase and requested the Executive Secretary to implement the pilot phase in accordance with the guidance set out in the annex of
recommendation 1/1.
At its
second meeting, the ICNP considered the report on the progress made in the implementation of the pilot phase of the ABS Clearing-House, the suggested mechanisms and applications to be developed during the pilot phase (document
UNEP/ICNP/2/8) and the draft modalities of operation of the ABS Clearing-House (document
UNEP/ICNP/2/9).
In its
recommendation 2/4, the ICNP took note of the suggestions put forward by the Executive Secretary with respect to the development of the pilot phase of the ABS Clearing-House and requested the Executive Secretary to report on further progress made in its implementation at the
eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention. Furthermore, the ICNP recommended that COP-11 decide on a process forward for further advancing the development of the ABS Clearing-House.
The
eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties, in decision XI/1, endorsed the indicative work plan and timeline for activities to take place until the first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, as contained in document
UNEP/CBD/COP/11/11 and decided to establish an informal advisory committee (IAC) to assist the Executive Secretary with the implementation of the pilot phase and to provide technical guidance with respect to the resolution of technical issues. The IAC will hold one meeting, as well as informal online discussions, and report to the third meeting of the ICNP.
The decision also included a request to the Executive Secretary to report on progress made in the implementation of the pilot phase, including on the registration of information related to national permits or their equivalents and on technical issues concerning the establishment of the international recognized certificate of compliance, and to refine the draft modalities of operation, taking into account the experience acquired during the pilot phase, for their consideration by the third meeting of the ICNP.