Disclosure requirements: ensuring mutual supportiveness between the WTO TRIPS agreement and the CBD

The misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge continues to elicit serious misgivings among the biodiversity community and indigenous peoples. High-profile cases – such as the neem tree, basmati rice and maca – fuelled calls for a more effective system to prevent such illegal access and ensure fair and equitable benefit-sharing. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) marked an attempt by the international community to address this issue at the multilateral level.

This publication comprises a series of essays that aim to provide useful insights into the potential of disclosure requirements to support conservation and sustainable development objectives, with a particular focus on the mandate of the WTO TRIPS Council and its interaction with other global biodiversity and intellectual property regimes and fora. In addition, the papers evaluate mechanisms and give practical examples on how to implement disclosure requirements at the national level in a manner that is supportive of the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD.

The essays include:

• user measures to resolve potential conflicts between the WTO and the CBD
• prior informed consent and access to genetic resources
• feasibility of national requirements for disclosure of origin
• towards an effective disclosure mechanism: justification, scope and legal effects
• addressing the disclosure requirement at the international level: the role of the TRIPS.