The complex framework of access and benefit sharing under the international policy arena

Over recent years, an international legal architecture on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) for genetic resources has emerged with important implications for the use and exchange of genetic resources for food and agriculture (GRFA). The inclusion of the ABS as part of the broader agreement of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) marked a fundamental turning point in the paradigm of the ownership rights in genetic materials. The recently adopted Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization constitutes the newest element of this legal framework and adds new impulse to the discussion about how to best address ABS to genetic resources. Today, several key international agreements govern the legal landscape in the area of ownership of genetic resources, but two of them, namely Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), are at the heart of the protection over biological resources. The paper briefly describes the special nature of the genetic resources as public good and discusses the articulate debate over the implementation of the instruments of ABS in the policy arena.