Information on Access and Benefit Sharing regarding the Utilisation of Genetic Resources under the European Union Legal Regulation

Valentina Colcellianalyses how, in the European legal system, Access and Benefit-sharing information are exchanged and this could help the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and its goals, whether data flow could be controlled and whether legal consequences for infringement of rules on information exchange and storage could be more well-defined and reinforced. The flow of information available in the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-house platform seems to favour users more than providers, stakeholders and consumers; it also appears to kindly invite the users to respect the Access and Benefit-Sharing system. Providers, stakeholders and consumers, as well as the States, have the possibility to discover the illegal utilisation of genetic resources only accidentally, after products have been placed on the market. However, Art. 7(1) of Regulation (EU) n. 511/2014 makes it clear that the due diligence declaration needs to be requested by the Member States, or by the European Commission if money is provided by EU funds and the EU Offices or by the public administrations of Member States in case of request for market approval or placing products on the market. Nevertheless, the agencies in charge of Access and Benefit-Sharing control are not responsible for market approval. However, a rather quite good control of the flow of information is possible in the EU legal system, if all involved public administrations or agencies check the Access and Benefit-Sharing due diligence fulfilment.