Trade and MEAs
Patents on genetic resources contradict "facilitated access"
IPR and access to genetic resources for indigenous peoples and local communities
Authors:
; Berne Declaration; BioWatch; EED; German NGO Forum on Environment and Development; Tebtebba; Third World Network
Publisher:
Berne Declaration, 2005
This policy briefing was prepared for the third meeting of the working group on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) which took place in Bangkok on February 20, 2005.
The brief examines the impact that intellectual property rights (IPRs) has on access to these genetic resources for local communities and indigenous peoples. The author highlights that it will be important for the ABS working group to develop a provision to ensure that no IPRs will restrict access in the international regime. The paper argues that if not, the whole CBD would lose its balance, forcing countries of origin to provide access on the one hand, but giving users patent rights on the other hand, which could prevent any further access for a minimum or twenty years.
The paper conludes that the international regime must make sure that recipients of genetic resources shall not claim any intellectual property or other rights that limit subsequent access to the original organism and its isolated components as well as for modified organisms and modified genetic material.
