BIA response to CBD consultation on digital sequence information

The BIA has responded to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat’s consultation on Digital Sequence Information (DSI) on Genetic Resources.

In our submission, we argued:

• DSI should not be included within the scope of the objectives of the CBD and the objective of the Nagoya Protocol on both legal and practical grounds.
• Addressing ongoing compliance and implementation challenges of the Nagoya Protocol should be the main focus of the Parties to the Protocol and of the Secretariat to the CBD. The potential inclusion of DSI at this stage would complicate matters further, exacerbating the significant and complex issues and challenges.
• The inclusion of DSI would do more harm than good by, amongst other things, presenting additional compliance challenges and problems which could seriously stifle innovation, particularly for SMEs

The submissions from other stakeholders are available on the CBD website here.