MM-ABSCH

About the ABSCH

The Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House (ABS Clearing-House, ABSCH) is a platform for exchanging information on access and benefit-sharing established by Article 14 of the Nagoya Protocol, as part of clearing-house mechanism under Article 18, paragraph 3 of the Convention. The ABS Clearing-House is a key tool for facilitating the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol by enhancing legal certainty, clarity and transparency on procedures for access and for monitoring the utilization of genetic resources along the value chain. By making relevant information regarding ABS available, the ABS Clearing-House helps users access genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, and providers fairly and equitably share in the benefits arising from their utilization.

The primary goal of the ABS Clearing-House is to share information in order to:

• Assist users in finding information on how to access genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge; and
• Assist providers in receiving information related to the utilization of their genetic resources once they leave the provider country’s jurisdiction.

The ABS Clearing-House can help everyone get what they want

What Providers want:

• Control over access to their own genetic resources (GR) and traditional knowledge (TK)
• Ensure that users comply with all conditions set in mutual agreed terms (MAT)
• Assurance that the entitled benefits arising from utilization are received in accordance with MAT

What Users want:

• Access to GR and associated TK
• A clear understanding about how to access GR and TK
• Legal certainty for utilizing GR and TK when due process has been followed

What everybody wants:

• Fair and equitable sharing of benefits
• Sustainable use of biodiversity
• Conservation of biodiversity

The Nagoya Protocol's provisions on access, benefit-sharing and compliance provide a framework that aims to address the concerns of both users and providers. However, in order to translate the Nagoya Protocol into practice, Parties need to create the necessary conditions and take the measures required by the Protocol to ensure that a national framework is in place to implement ABS at the national level and enable the development of ABS agreements for the benefit of all involved in the process. It is in this context and with this aim that Parties to the CBD included Article 14 in the Nagoya Protocol, which establishes the ABS Clearing-House.
The Nagoya Protocol establishes the ABS Clearing-House, as part of the clearing-house mechanism of the Convention, as a means for sharing information related to access and benefit-sharing, and in particular its goal is to provide access to information made available by each Party relevant to the implementation of the Protocol.
The ABS Clearing-House allows countries to share information on procedures for accessing genetic resources and monitor the utilization of the resources along the value chain. The ABS Clearing-House plays a key role in enhancing the legal certainty and transparency that both providers and users of genetic resources, as well as associated traditional knowledge, are looking for.

The ABS Clearing-House is helping to make the "ABC's" of ABS a reality

The "ABC's" of ABS:

• Access – Enhancing legal certainty, transparency and clarity on how to access genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.
• Benefit-sharing – Contributing to increase opportunities for sharing benefits from the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.
• Compliance – Assisting to ensure compliance with ABS measures and transparency in monitoring the utilization of genetic resources through the value chain.

A fully functional ABS Clearing-House also represents a major step in achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 16, which provides that by 2015, the Nagoya Protocol is in force and operational, consistent with national legislation.