COMBINED STUDY ON DIGITAL SEQUENCE INFORMATION IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DATABASES AND TRACEABILITY

1. At its fourteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity requested the Executive Secretary “to commission a peer-reviewed study on ongoing
developments in the field of traceability of digital information, including how traceability is addressed
by databases, and how these could inform discussions on digital sequence information on genetic
resources” (decision 14/20, para. 11 (c)), and “to commission a peer-reviewed study on public and, to
the extent possible, private databases of digital sequence information on genetic resources, including
the terms and conditions on which access is granted or controlled, the biological scope and the size of
the databases, numbers of accessions and their origin, governing policies, and the providers and users
of the digital sequence information on genetic resources and encourages the owners of private
databases to provide the necessary information;” (decision 14/20, para. (d)).
2. Accordingly, and with financial support from Norway and the European Union, the Executive
Secretary commissioned a research team to carry out the studies in a combined manner, taking into
account the conceptual linkages between the two studies, and also partly for practical reasons.
3. A draft of the combined study was made available online for peer review from 22 October to
22 November 2019.1 The comments received in response have been made available online.2 The
research team revised the study in the light of the comments received and prepared, in consultation
with the Secretariat, the final version as presented herein. Any views expressed in the study are those
of the authors or the sources cited in the study and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Secretariat.
4. It should also be noted that this study is distinct but complementary to two studies that the
Executive Secretary was requested to commission pursuant to decision 14/20, paragraphs 11(b) and (e)
and the synthesis of views prepared pursuant to decision 14/20, paragraph 11(a).
5. The executive summary of the study is presented below, and the full text of the combined
study is contained in the annex. The study is presented in the form and language in which it was
received by the Secretariat.