Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) & Nagoya Protocol (NP)

It is part of NCIMB’s policy on access to genetic resources and benefit sharing to make both depositors and end-users of cultures aware of their obligations under the CBD. However, it is the responsibility of depositors and end-users to ensure that obligations under the CBD are complied with. This page provides a summary of those obligations.

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Background to the CBD and NP

The CBD entered into force on the 29th December 1993, it has three main objectives:

The conservation of biological diversity
The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity
The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of Genetic Resources or Associated Traditional Knowledge (aTK)

The NP came into force on the 12th October 2014 and is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.

Obligations for Culture Collection Depositors

It is the responsibility of the depositor who isolates and/or deposits microbial organisms in a national culture collection to ensure that the deposit of the samples into a national culture collection does not infringe any national obligations and the microbial genetic resources have been collected with any required Prior Informed Consent (PIC) from an authoritative body in the country of origin.
It is the obligation of depositor to inform NCIMB prior to deposit, if any Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) negotiated in the country of origin has implications for the end-user with respect to access and benefit sharing.
NCIMB accepts no responsibility for the breach of any requirement relating to the CBD or the NP by the depositor. In the absence of any information to the contrary, NCIMB will assume it is free to supply any newly deposited materials to third parties.

Obligations for End-Users of Cultures

Users of organisms purchased from culture collections should be aware that any benefits arising from commercial exploitation of the cultures may have implications in terms of benefit sharing with the country of origin.
NCIMB will make information on benefit sharing available to the end-user if it has been supplied when the culture was deposited. However, in many cases such information may not have been supplied and in such cases, it is the responsibility of the end-user to ensure the commercial use of any organisms, or resultant product(s), do not infringe national laws and regulations.
The commercial use of the cultures under the CBD or NP is not permitted unless prior informed consent (PIC) has been sought and mutually agreeable terms (MAT) have been agreed with the country of origin.
It is the responsibility of all recipients of NCIMB cultures to ensure that the use of the organisms received from national culture collections comply with the general requirements of the CBD and NP, and with any regulations drawn up by your own country and with the country of origin.
If cultures are purchased from a culture collection and are passed on to a third party the purchaser should keep records for traceability purposes and ensure the end-user is made aware of its obligations under the CBD.
NCIMB accepts no responsibility for the breach of any requirement relating to the CBD or NP, either by its customers or third parties who subsequently use cultures originating from NCIMB.

Further information

UK government guidance on the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing (ABS) for those conducting research and development on genetic resources is available here .

The Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing-House (ABSCH) is a platform for exchanging information on ABSCH and a key tool for facilitating the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol.

More information about the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol is also available on the CBD website