Decision COP VI/24

The Conference of the Parties

1. Takes note of the report of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing;

3. Decides to adopt the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefit Arising out of their Utilization as annexed to the present decision;

4.  Invites Parties and Governments to use the Guidelines when developing and drafting legislative, administrative or policy measures on access and benefit-sharing, and contracts and other arrangements under mutually agreed terms for access and benefit-sharing;

5. Invites Parties and relevant organizations to provide financial and technical assistance to support developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small islands developing states, as well as countries with economies in transition, in implementing the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefit Arising out of their Utilization;

6. Recognizes that the Guidelines are a useful first step of an evolutionary process in the implementation of relevant provisions of the Convention related to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing;

7. Decides to keep under review the implementation of the guidelines and consider the need for their further refinement on the basis of, inter alia, relevant work under the Convention, including work on Article 8(j) and related provisions;

8. Decides to reconvene the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing to advise the Conference of the Parties on:

9. Requests the Executive Secretary to invite Parties, Governments and relevant international organizations to submit information on the issues referred to in paragraphs 8 (a), (b), (c) and (e) above, and to make this information available to the Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing and through the clearing-house mechanism;

10. Requests the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions to consider the Guidelines as relevant to its ongoing work.

I. CAPACITY-BUILDING

Recognizing the need to assess ongoing capacity-building activities for access and benefit-sharing, in view of elaborating an action plan for capacity-building for access and benefit-sharing,

1. Decides to convene an Open-ended Expert Workshop on Capacity-building for Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing. The Workshop will be open to participation by representatives, including experts, nominated by Governments and regional economic integration organizations; as well as representatives of relevant intergovernmental organizations (including donor organizations), non-governmental organizations, and indigenous and local communities. The Workshop should further develop the draft elements for an Action Plan on Capacity-building for Access and Benefit-sharing annexed to the present decision;

2. Requests the Executive Secretary to make appropriate arrangements for the Workshop;

3. Invites Parties and indigenous and local communities to provide to the Executive-Secretary information regarding capacity-building needs, priorities and existing initiatives for capacity-building for access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing;

4. Invites relevant intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to provide information regarding existing initiatives and activities for capacity-building for access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing;

5. Welcomes the complementary initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme to provide capacity-building to developing countries on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing, and invites the United Nations Environment Programme to provide information to the Executive Secretary on its activities;

6. Requests the Executive Secretary to prepare a report for the workshop on capacity-building, providing a compilation of needs and priorities of countries, and ongoing capacity-building activities on access and benefit-sharing, with a view to developing an action plan for capacity-building on access and benefit-sharing which responds to the needs of Parties, focuses on priority areas and also complements capacity-building efforts under way in the area of access and benefit-sharing;

7. Invites the financial mechanism and other relevant intergovernmental organizations to participate in the Workshop and to support the implementation of the Action Plan on Capacity-building for Access and Benefit-sharing;

8. Requests the Executive Secretary to establish a roster of experts on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing;

9. Urges Parties, other Governments and relevant bodies when nominating their experts for inclusion in the roster to consider gender balance, involvement of representatives of indigenous and local communities, and a range of relevant disciplines and expertise;

II. OTHER APPROACHES

10. Recognizes that a package of measures may be necessary to address the different needs of Parties and stakeholders in the implementation of access and benefit-sharing arrangements

11. Recognizes also that other approaches could be considered to complement the Bonn Guideline, such as model contractual agreements, existing regional agreements and model laws on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing.

12. Requests the Executive Secretary to compile information on existing complementary measures and approaches, and experiences with their implementation, and to disseminate such information to Parties and relevant stakeholders through, inter alia, the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention.

The Conference of the Parties

1. Invites Parties and Governments to encourage the disclosure of the country of origin of genetic resources in applications for intellectual property rights, where the subject matter of the application concerns or makes use of genetic resources in its development, as a possible contribution to tracking compliance with prior informed consent and the mutually agreed terms on which access to those resources was granted;

2. Also invites Parties and Governments to encourage the disclosure of the origin of relevant traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in applications for intellectual property rights, where the subject matter of the application concerns or makes use of such knowledge in its development;

3. Requests the Executive Secretary, with the help of other international and intergovernmental organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and through the Ad Hoc Open-ended Inter-Sessional Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions of the Convention, where appropriate, to undertake further information gathering and analysis with regard to:

4. Invites the World Intellectual Property Organization to prepare a technical study, and to report its findings to the Conference of the Parties at its seventh meeting, on methods consistent with obligations in treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization for requiring the disclosure within patent applications of, inter alia:

5. Requests the Executive Secretary to collect, compile and disseminate information on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, including through the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention and other appropriate means;

6. Invites Parties and Governments to submit case-studies that they consider relevant to the issues specified in paragraphs 3 and 4; and

7. Requests the Executive Secretary to gather information and prepare a report on national and regional experiences;

8. Invites other relevant international organizations (such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights), as well as regional organizations, Parties and Governments to contribute to the further study and analysis of the issues specified in paragraphs 3 and 4;

9. Encourages the World Intellectual Property Organization to make rapid progress in the development of model intellectual property clauses which may be considered for inclusion in contractual agreements when mutually agreed terms are under negotiation;

10. Recognizes the importance of the work being undertaken by the World Intellectual Property Organization on international models and encourage the World Intellectual Property Organization to also consider means by which Parties could collaborate to protect traditional knowledge for further consideration by the Conference of the Parties;

11. Urges the World Intellectual Property Organization to provide to the Conference of the Parties with the results of its deliberations of relevance to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing related to traditional knowledge;

12. Encourages Parties to facilitate the participation of indigenous and local communities and other relevant stakeholders in the various forums, in particular the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and regional forums, as well as in the preparation of national strategies, policies, regulatory frameworks and legislation related to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing, from a very early stage;

13. Requests the Executive Secretary to compile information, and to make it available through the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention and other means, on the principles, legal mechanisms and procedures for obtaining prior informed consent of indigenous and local communities under national access regimes for genetic resources, and also on assessments of the effectiveness of such mechanisms and procedures, and requests Parties to provide such information to assist the Executive Secretary.

The Conference of Parties,

The relationship between the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization and the Convention on Biological Diversity

Noting that the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization and the Convention on Biological Diversity are interrelated,

Noting also that the relationship between the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the Convention on Biological Diversity is being examined by the Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, in conformity with Article 19 of the Doha WTO Ministerial Declaration, adopted in November 2001,

Noting further that the Convention Secretariat has still not been granted observer status on the Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, notwithstanding the official request of the Executive Secretary to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization in a letter dated 4 July 2000,

1. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Convention to renew the application for observer status on the Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, and to report back to the Conference of Parties on his efforts;

2. Requests the Executive Secretary to follow discussions and developments in the Committee on Trade and Environment of the World Trade Organization and the Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding the relationship between the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the Convention;

Cooperation with other relevant intergovernmental organizations

3. Acknowledges relevant work being carried out by other intergovernmental organisations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Trade Organization, the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, on issues related to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing;

4. Requests the Executive Secretary to further collaborate with the above relevant organisations to ensure mutual supportiveness and avoid duplication of work;

5. Recognizes the important role that the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will have, in harmony, with the Convention, for facilitated access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their utilization and refers to decision VI/6, on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture;

Information related to access and benefit-sharing arrangements

Recognizing that access to information is an essential instrument in the development of national capacity for dealing with access and benefit-sharing arrangements and important in enhancing the necessary bargaining power of stakeholders in access and benefit-sharing arrangements,

Noting that, since the adoption of the Convention, an increasing number of Parties have developed national/regional regimes on access and benefit-sharing and that Parties and stakeholders could learn from sharing their respective experiences relating to the development and implementation of access and benefit-sharing regimes,

Recognizing that the Secretariat of the Convention could assist in disseminating this information among Parties and stakeholders, inter alia, through strengthening of the clearing-house mechanism,

6. Requests Parties and relevant organizations, as appropriate, to make available to the Executive Secretary:

7. Requests the Executive Secretary to compile the information received and to make it available,through, inter alia, the clearing-house mechanism, including in hard copy and CD-ROM and relevant meetings under the Convention on Biological Diversity in order to facilitate access to this information by Parties and relevant stakeholders;

Ex situ collections acquired prior to the entry into force of the Convention and not addressed by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

8. Notes with appreciation the report International Review of the Ex Situ Plant Collections of the Botanic Gardens of the World: Reviewing the Plant Genetic Resource Collections of Botanic Gardens Worldwide, prepared by Botanic Gardens Conservation International with the support of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.