DR. DEEPA KHARB
@ili.ac.in
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR(LAW)
INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE, NEW DELHI
EDUCATION
, UGC NET
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Intellectual Property Law, Cyber Law,Competition Law and Comparative Public Law
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scopus Publications
Deepa Kharb
SAGE Publications
The global governance of natural resources was established initially by Convention on Biodiversity(CBD) in 1992 followed by Nagoya Protocol(NP) in 2010 with an objective of ensuring fairness and equitable benefit sharing arising from the exploitation of genetic resources creating incentive at the same time for the conservation and sustainable use of such resources. The framework has been criticized for its inefficiency in achieving its objectives. Recently it has been the subject of debate on whether digital sequence information is covered by the term ‘genetic resources’. There are divergent views in different countries on how digital sequencing information (DSI) should be defined and whether the information derived or non-tangible aspect of genetic resources should also fall under the ABS regime. The present paper analyses the Indian position on these points.
Deepa Kharb
Wiley
The agenda of Digital Sequence Information (DSI) on genetic resources was taken up for international debate at the 14th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD hereinafter) in 2018 The issue is of great significance to governments of the member countries as the new use of sequence information is replacing the existing practice of physical access to plants, animals, and so forth It is everting the traditional approaches to access and benefit sharing (ABS hereinafter) under the CBD and encouraging bio-piracy as the legal framework is not versed with the realities of technical advance This legal conundrum and free-for-all access to sequence information is highly beneficial for user countries and the biotechnology industry which supports the open access model citing benefits related to climate change, public health, and food security The current COVID-19 pandemic related research has given strength to their argument that restriction of access would hamper research and development for the benefit of mankind as the sequence details of the virus has been made available under the public domain On the other hand, source countries contend that allowing free access to sequence information of genetic resources without prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms as per the CBD and Nagoya Protocol (NP hereinafter) will be counterproductive to the interests of the indigenous people and local communities that foster and preserve biodiversity in their jurisdictions The paper analyses the issues and arguments related to DSI and explore the possibility and prospects of the application of the ABS under CBD-NP framework to DSI © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd