The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol first addressed the issue of digital sequence information on genetic resources at their respective meetings held in December 2016. At its 14th meeting in 2018, the Conference of the Parties adopted decision 14/20 which noted the divergence of views of Parties on this matter and decided to establish a science and policy-based process, which included the convening of an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG).