Acceso usuarios
This article, based on a study commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, aims at identifying what legal, administrative and policy measures could be designed in a country such as Switzerland to promote compliance by users of genetic resources and traditional knowledge with measures regarding access and benefit sharing (ABS). The framework of the study is set by the existing international legal system and the international regime currently being discussed in the negotiations of the Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization. This article states the situation as at June 2010. Stakeholders in Switzerland have already taken numerous measures in order to comply with the ABS provisions contained in the Convention on Biological Diversity, such as the declaration of the source of genetic resources and traditional knowledge in patent applications or the development of best practice guidelines and recommendations. Can more be done? Two basic options for ABS user measures in Switzerland are examined, depending on the development of the international regime, with or without international certification. Whatever system is finally chosen, it should not reduce the stimulation in research and development, ought to be as little intrusive as possible into trade activities and should avoid duplications.
