A technical and legal analysis of triggers for monetary benefit-sharing from digital sequence information on genetic resources: A Report for the European Commission, Joint Research Centre

This study is the result of a response to a policy request submitted by DG ENV to the Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) through the KCBD ticketing system. It provides a technical and legal analysis of six triggers for monetary benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources, evaluated against the criteria in para. 9 of Decision 15/9 of the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/COP/DEC/15/9). This study suggests that a trigger based on commercial activity related to DSI (trigger 5) best meets the Decision’s criteria, with secondary options being commercialisation of DSI products (trigger 4) and a micro-levy (trigger 6). A fee at the point of access (trigger 1) and licences associated with DSI records (trigger 2) were found to restrict open access and innovation, require significant cooperation from database managers and fail to meet several criteria. Licences combined with mandatory cloud service platforms (trigger 3) also raise privacy and competition concerns. The commercialisation of DSI products (trigger 4) avoids impacting research but requires clear definitions and reliable payment collection. A micro-levy on DSI-related products or services (trigger 6) is feasible but may not effectively link to DSI use. The study finds that trigger 5, potentially combined with some elements from triggers 2 and/or 6, could support the development of a DSI multilateral mechanism (MLM) that meets the criteria of para. 9 of Decision 15/9.