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THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY
INFORMATION SERVICE Megadiverse countries join efforts for strong international law on access and benefit sharing The Group of Like Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMC), rich in biological diversity and associated traditional knowledge, have agreed to join efforts for effectively negotiating the development of an international regime on access and benefit sharing (ABS), including legally binding instruments in the forthcoming meetings of the Ad-hoc Open ended Working Group under the aegis of Convention on Biological Diversity, so as to safeguard the interests of LMMC countries and peoples. The 17 members are Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela. These countries possess 60-70% of the world's biodiversity. The Group played an important role in obtaining a decision at the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD to start negotiations on an International Regime on ABS. The first negotiation session will be in Bangkok at the 3rd meeting of the CBD Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on ABS, from 14 to 18 February. In preparation for that meeting, the Group met in New Delhi from 17 to 21 January. There was an experts' meeting followed by a ministerial meeting which adopted the "New Delhi Ministerial Declaration of Like Minded Megadiverse Countries on Access and Benefit Sharing". The Group agreed to join efforts for effectively negotiating the development of the international regime, including legally binding instruments. The New Delhi Ministerial Declaration also stated that the proposed international regime on ABS should include "mandatory disclosure of the country of origin of biological material and associated traditional knowledge in the IPR (Intellectual Property Right) application, along with an undertaking that the prevalent laws and practices of the country of origin have been respected and mandatory specific consequences in the event of failure to disclose the country of origin in the IPR application". The Megadiverse countries have also agreed to ensure that the proposed ABS includes prior informed consent of the country of origin and mutually agreed upon terms between the country of origin and user country. At the inauguration of the New Delhi meeting, India's Minister for Environment and Forests, Thiru A. Raja, emphasized that the loss of biodiversity will be reversed only if the indigenous and local communities that have been its custodians benefit from its conservation and sustainable use.
Stating that the relationship between genetic resources, traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights is one of the most debated issues in the negotiations of several multilateral agreements, Thiru Raja pointed out that the CBD and the TRIPS ((Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreements, both touch on issues relating to genetic resources and intellectual property giving rise to a range of legal and practical issues concerning both their relationship in international law and their implementation at the national level. The Minister stressed the strong need for harmonization of the provisions of these agreements. We are pleased to share with you the press release by the Government of India dated 21 January 2005, and a report by Martin Khor originally published in the 25 January issue of SUNS (south-north development monitor). With best wishes,
ITEM 1 Press Information Bureau
Friday, January 21, 2005
DELHI DECLARATION OF MEGADIVERSE COUNTRIES ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING The Like Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMC), rich in biological diversity and associated traditional knowledge, have agreed to join efforts as a Group for effectively negotiating the development of an international regime on access and benefit sharing (ABS), including legally binding instruments in the forthcoming meetings of the Ad-hoc Open ended Working Group under the aegis of Convention on Biological Diversity, so as to safeguard the interests of LMMC countries and peoples. The New Delhi Ministerial Declaration
of Like Minded Megadiverse Countries on Access and Benefit Sharing, issued
here today, at the end of five-day meet of the Megadiverse countries,
also stated that the proposed international regime on access and benefit
sharing (ABS) should include "mandatory disclosure of the country
of origin of biological material and associated traditional knowledge
in the IPR (Intellectual Property Right) application, along with an undertaking
that the prevalent laws and practices of the country of origin have been
respected and mandatory specific consequences in the event of failure
to disclose the country of origin in The Megadiverse countries have also agreed to ensure that the proposed ABS includes prior informed consent of the country of origin and mutually agreed upon terms between the country of origin and user country. The Declaration states that the LMMC have agreed to jointly further work towards creating the Megadiverse Cooperation Fund for supporting projects in member countries that meet the objectives of the Group. Recognizing the urgent need to develop human resources, capabilities, and legal and public policy to enable countries rich in biodiversity to take an active part in the new economy associated with the use of biological diversity and biotechnology, seventeen countries rich in biological diversity and associated traditional knowledge have formed a group known as the Like Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMCs). These countries are Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela. The LMMC Group, which holds nearly 60-70% of all biodiversity, is now well recognized as an important negotiating block in the UN and other international fora. The five-day meet of LMMCs, which was inaugurated here on 17th January 2005, discussed issues relating to access to genetic resources and associated knowledge, intellectual property rights (IPRs) in relation to biological resources, and traditional knowledge. The meeting, hosted by India in its capacity as the President of the Group, helped in evolving a common position of the LMMCs for developing an international regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and resulted in finalization and adoption of the New Delhi Ministerial Declaration of Like Minded Megadiverse Countries on Access and Benefit Sharing. While CBD (Convention on Biological
Diversity) envisages that access to genetic resources and realization
of benefits is subject to national legislation through formalization of
prior informed consent (PIC) and mutually agreed terms (MAT), India has
been emphasizing that such national action alone is not sufficient to
ensure realization of benefits to the country of origin or provider country.
This is particularly so in cases where genetic material sourced from one
country is utilized in another country for developing products and processes
on which patent protection is obtained. The onus of benefit sharing must
also be shared by the user ITEM 2 Mega-diverse countries want binding CBD anti-biopiracy regime SUNS (north-south development monitor) By Martin Khor Geneva, 24 Jan (Martin Khor) -- The like-minded group of mega-diverse countries have agreed to jointly push for a legally binding international regime at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on access and benefit sharing in relation to biological resources and traditional knowledge. This decision was taken at a Ministerial meeting of the countries held in New Delhi, India on 17-21 January. A New Delhi Ministerial Declaration of Like Minded Mega-diverse Countries on Access and Benefit Sharing was issued at the end of the meeting on 21 January. The proposed regime would include provisions for the mandatory disclosure in intellectual property rights applications of the countries of origin, an undertaking that the domestic laws of those countries have been respected, and "mandatory specific consequences" for failure to disclose the country of origin. The like-minded group comprises 17 developing countries--Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela. Together, they hold 70 percent of the world's biodiversity. It was formed to enable the countries to more effectively fight to obtain the benefits from biological resources and in combating biopiracy, or the misappropriation of their genetic resources and traditional knowledge through patenting, mainly by global corporations. The Delhi Declaration stated that the proposed international regime on access and benefit sharing (ABS) should include "mandatory disclosure of the country of origin of biological material and associated traditional knowledge in the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) application, along with an undertaking that the prevalent laws and practices of the country of origin have been respected and mandatory specific consequences in the event of failure to disclose the country of origin in the IPR application". The countries also agreed to ensure that the proposed ABS regime includes prior informed consent of the country of origin and mutually agreed upon terms between the country of origin and user country. The Declaration called for "disclosure of legal provenance of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in the applications for grant of intellectual property rights." It added: "Internationally recognised certificate of legal provenance of genetic resources should include evidence of compliance with access legislation, including prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms." The requirements to obtain the certificate will be nationally defined, in line with CBD provisions. The criteria for global recognition of the certificate shall be established in the legally binding instrument. The certificate should include "a standardised code that accompanies the biological material and is placed to all extracts, derivatives or information, through the least expensive channels, in a way that it can be shown at specific and relevant checkpoints in the R&D process (including product approval and intellectual property)." "There should be high cost of non-disclosure in order to induce users to behave legally. The specific conditions for access should be included in a clearing house, so that users, interested parties and authorities can check the conditions." The Declaration also urged countries to adopt suitable legislation on recognition and protection of the rights of indigenous and local communities over traditional knowledge. It also said that the countries had agreed to jointly further work towards creating the Mega-diverse Cooperation Fund for supporting projects in member countries that meet the objectives of the Group. The Delhi meeting came just weeks prior to an important session of the CBD's working group on access and benefit sharing, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 14-18 February. The Bangkok meeting will see the start of negotiations on an international regime on access and benefit sharing (ABS), following a decision at the CBD's seventh Conference of Parties (COP) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last February. The COP decided that the working group will elaborate and negotiate an international regime on ABS and provided terms of reference for the group on the nature, scope and elements of the regime. However, the question of whether the regime will be legally binding or not has yet to be settled and will be a key issue to resolve. The New Delhi meeting was clearly an occasion for the 17 mega-diverse countries to prepare a joint position for the Bangkok session. In inaugurating the New Delhi meeting, the Indian Minister for Environment and Forests, Thiru Raja, who is also Chairman of the group, said that a significant part of the pharmaceuticals industry and its products are developed based on traditional and indigenous knowledge. "However, local and indigenous communities rarely get any benefits from the resulting products. The mega-diverse countries, with home to nearly 60-70% of the global biodiversity, should be in a position to influence the bulk of trade in bio-resources." "However, the reality is that most of the mega-diverse countries continue to remain impoverished despite the richness of bio-resources that they possess," he added. Stating that the relationship between genetic resources, traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights is one of the most debated issues in the negotiations of several multilateral agreements, the Indian Minister pointed out that the CBD and the WTO's TRIPS ((Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreements, both touch on issues relating to genetic resources and intellectual property, giving rise to a range of legal and practical issues concerning both their relationship in international law and their implementation at the national level. There is therefore a strong need for harmonization of the provisions of these agreements, he stressed. Stating that many countries have pointed out the limitations of IPRs in effectively protecting the genetic resources and interests of the countries of origin, the Minister said that the countries of origin require that their sovereignty over their biological resources be respected by all, leading to the prevention of biopiracy. The like-minded group was formed in February 2002 at a meeting in Cancun, Mexico. The aims of the Group, as set out in the Cancun Declaration, include working together to obtain fairer access and benefit sharing terms in the use of biological resources, developing biological resources, protecting traditional knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples, addressing issues of intellectual property rights, and seeking common positions in international negotiations. Prior informed consent of countries of origin and local communities is also highlighted. The Convention on Biological Diversity is the framework for the Group. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, members of the Group (supported by the Group of 77) succeeded in getting a decision to negotiate an international regime, within the CBD framework, to promote and safeguard the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources. The Group proposed at the seventh COP in February 2004 in Malaysia to initiate a work programme on this international regime. This move is the result of dissatisfaction with the voluntary Bonn Guidelines adopted at the previous COP, which focuses more on obligations and responsibilities of countries with biodiversity. The Group, in advocating an international regime, argues that national laws and action alone are not sufficient to ensure that benefits flow to the countries of origin, especially when genetic material sourced from one country is utilized in another country for developing products and processes on which patent protection is obtained. Several of the Group's members have also proposed in the WTO's TRIPS Council that amendments be made to the TRIPS agreement for requirements of disclosure of country of origin and prior informed consent in respect of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
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