Curitiba, Brazil

Genetic resources are increasingly used in different biotechnology sectors. Technological advances have made it possible to generate, store and use information on these resources, generally referred to as Digital Sequence Information (DSI). 

Based on DSI, relevant activities have been carried out to solve global challenges, such as genetic recombination analysis, medical and epidemiological screening, training of AI algorithms for diagnostic purposes, application of breeding methods for agriculture and gene synthesis, and commercial product development. In this context, it is important for providers and users to know when the use of this information is free of charge or subject to certain conditions.

In 2022, during COP 15, the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) supported the adoption of a multilateral mechanism for the sharing of benefits arising from the use of DSI. Among other aspects, this mechanism should (i) be efficient, feasible, practical, effective and consistent with open access to data, (ii) generate more benefits than costs, and (iii) provide legal certainty and clarity for providers and users. 

However, there is still no consensus on the concrete design of the multilateral mechanism for benefit-sharing. In particular, although they have common interests, Latin American countries do not have a common strategy in the negotiations, although this mechanism could have profound regulatory, economic and strategic impacts in the region.

In view of the approaching COP 16 in Cali, Colombia, where this mechanism was negotiated, the Smart IP for Latin America Initiative, in cooperation with the Law School of the Federal University of Paraná (Curitiba, Brazil), organised a workshop with academics, users and experts from different Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Peru. 

The objective of this workshop was to discuss the most relevant aspects for the global governance of DSI and the strategy to be adopted by Latin American countries in international negotiations. Among others, the definition of DSI, repercussions on existing national regulatory frameworks, types of benefits to be shared, triggers, governance and criteria for the distribution of funds, exceptions, compliance, sanctions and repercussions on multilateral mechanisms in other international fora were discussed.

The workshop was fruitful and successful, resulting in a document entitled ‘Recommendations for an international regulation of digital sequence information (DSI)’, available at the following link: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm;

Participants:

SIPLA Team

Pedro Henrique D. Batista (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Germany)

Juan I. Correa (Researcher - Smart IP for Latin America - Argentina)

Roxana C. Blasetti (Researcher - Smart IP for Latin America - Argentina)

Marcos Wachowicz (Professor - Universidade Federal do Paraná - Brazil)

Juliana Krueger Pela (Professor - Universidade de São Paulo - Brazil)

Débora Schwartz (Researcher - Universidade de São Paulo - Brazil)

Maria Helena Japiassu Macedo (Researcher - Universidade Federal do Paraná - Brazil)

Nicolás M. Hermida (Researcher - Smart IP for Latin America - Argentina)

Maria Alejandra Echavarría (Researcher - Smart IP for Latin America - Argentina)

Guests

Ana Paula Viana (Health and Biodiversity Regulatory Affairs Manager - Natura Cosmetics - Brazil)

Jorge Cabrera Medaglia (Professor - University of Costa Rica)

Manuel Ruiz Mueller (Consultant - Peruvian Society of Environmental Law)

Paula Durruty (National Wildlife Federation - Paraguay)

Vitor Pinto Ido (Professor - Universidade de São Paulo - Brazil)

Diego Galvis Rey (Technical Direction of Seeds - Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario - ICA)

Yuri Pereira Gomes (Researcher - Federal University of Paraná - Brazil)