Frequently Asked Questions

General information about the Nagoya Protocol and the ABS Regulation

What is the Nagoya Protocol?

What does Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) mean?

Are there sector-specific rules for ABS?

What is ABSCH (the Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing House)?

Implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the ABS Regulation in Belgium and the EU

How is the Nagoya Protocol implemented in Belgium and in the EU?

Is access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge regulated in the EU and Belgium?

Is the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge regulated in the EU and Belgium?

Access to genetic resources outside the EU

How does access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge work outside the EU?

What does it mean that a country must give its Prior Informed Consent (PIC)?

What are Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT)?

How can I find information on the access legislation in other countries that are parties to the Nagoya Protocol?

The utilization of genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources

What is a genetic resource?

What is traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources?

What does the utilization of genetic resources mean?

What users and what genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge are in scope?

The user’s obligations

What does fulfilling due diligence obligations mean?

What do I need to do to meet the due diligence requirements?

How should I declare due diligence?

What should I, as a user, do if there is not enough information or if there are uncertainties about whether the access or the use is legal?

For how long do information and documents on the access and equal distribution/ABS need to be stored and saved?

What are users’ obligations as regards to submitting due diligence declarations?

Who processes declarations of due diligence?

What sanctions are available to deal with contraventions?

International certificate of compliance

What is an Internationally Recognized Certified of Compliance (IRCC)?

Registered collections

What is a registered collection?

What are the requirements to register a collection?

How do you register a collection?

What are the advantages of registering a collection?

How is it ensured that a registered collection is compliant with the requirements?

Best practice

What does best practice mean?

How do you obtain recognition of best practice?

What are the advantages of best practice?

Science and research

As a researcher, what do I need to think about?

Who does what?

What is the role of the Belgian authorities?