Side Event

Industry Perspectives: Compliance Issues in the ABS International Regime (IR)

Organizer
Access and Benefit Sharing Alliance

Date and Time
3 April 2009 18:15 - 19:45

Meeting
Seventh meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (WGABS 7)

The ABSA side-event, co-sponsored by the ICC and CropLife International, will focus on outcomes of the January 2009 Meeting of Technical and Legal Experts Group (TEG) on Compliance Issues in the ABS IR. Themes: * The need for cost-effective, proportional compliance tools in the ABS IR, avoiding a “one-size fits all” approach; * Importance of requiring written ABS Agreements/Contracts, with a particular focus on the sMTA provisions in the ITPGRFA; * Use of Traditional Knowledge (TK) Digital Libraries and/or other registries to promote transparency and prior informed consent (PIC); * Useful role of the Bonn Guidelines to stimulate policy development at the national level; * Inclusion of Model Clauses for purposes of capacity building, particularly in developing countries and for indigenous/local communities; * Challenges and opportunities relating to Certificate systems, and, * Role of Alternative Dispute Settlement (ADR) in reducing transaction costs for ABS generally.