Consultation

Public Consultation on the Implementation and Ratification of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing arising out of their utilization (ABS)

The public consultation on the Implementation and Ratification of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing arising out of their utilization (ABS) is now closed.

The consultation was open from 24/10/2011 to 30/12/2011

Following the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to genetic resources and Benefit sharing (ABS) on 29 October 2010, the Commission has initiated work towards its implementation and ratification by the EU. In this context, the Commission launched a consultation of stakeholders to explore the possible impacts of the Protocol on their activities and to gather concrete ideas on practical implementation challenges. In the public consultation all interested parties were invited to share their views on the best way to benefit from the implementation of ABS legislation in the EU and the ratification of the Nagoya Protocol.

We received 43 responses that are published here (zip file ~6Mb). It must be noted that the majority of responses was provided by european or global federations and associations that each represent hundreds or even thousands of members.

The Commission also organised a technical workshop in Brussels on 26 January 2012 to discuss with stakeholders the main messages from the public consultation and interim findings of an expert study the Commissions has commissioned to an external contractor. All respondents to the public consultation as well as other stakeholders and experts were invited to this workshop.

The results of the public consultation and the technical workshop are currently analysed. They will feed into the impact assessment study on potential measures for EU implementation of the Nagoya Protocol.

Depending on the findings of the impact assessment, the Commission may propose EU-level measures towards the end of third quarter of 2012.