Digital sequence information

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Digital sequence information (DSI) is a placeholder term used in international policy fora, particularly the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to refer to data derived from dematerialized genetic resources (GR).

Contents

Definition

The 2018 Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on DSI reached consensus that the term was "not appropriate". [1] Nevertheless, the term is generally agreed to include nucleic acid sequence data, and may be construed to include other data types derived from or linked to dematerialized genetic resources, including, for example, protein sequence data. [2] [3] The appropriateness and meaning of this term remain controversial as evidenced by its continued placeholder status, post the 15th Conference of the Parties to the CBD. [4] [5] [6] DSI is crucial to research in a wide range of contexts, including public health, medicine, biodiversity, plant and animal breeding, and evolution research.

Policy environment

Convention on Biological Diversity & Nagoya protocol

The Nagoya Protocol, a component of the Convention on Biological Diversity, establishes a right for countries to regulate, and to share in benefits derived from, their nation's genetic resources by arranging Access and Benefit Sharing Agreements with users. Academic researchers, however, generally share DSI freely and openly online, following a set of principles that align with the open science movement. [5] Open sharing of DSI is recognized to have broad benefits, and open science is a major and growing focus of international science policy. [7] [8] This creates a perceived conflict with benefit sharing obligations, as individuals can access and use these open data without entering into benefit-sharing agreements.

Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity have considered a range of policy options that strike different balances between these two important international policy goals. [4] At COP 15, parties agreed to establish a multilateral mechanism for benefit-sharing from the use of DSI. [9] At COP 16, parties agreed to implement this by establishing a fund to which commercial users of DSI would be expected to contribute a percent of their revenue (see COP 16 below).

GRATK Treaty

In May 2024, [10] a WIPO Diplomatic Conference concluded the International Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK) [11] , which mandates disclosure requirements for patents based on genetic resources (GR). [12] [13]

Some observers to the negotiations claim that, under the final wording of the treaty, the disclosure requirements apply to patents based on DSI, as long as the DSI was necessary to the patented invention, and/or the invention depends on the specific properties of the DSI:

The draft versions of the Treaty previously contemplated mentions of the qualifier “direct” in the trigger. Drafts also contemplated mentions of the qualifier “material,” both in the trigger itself and in its definition. These qualifiers were deleted by the drafters, leaving only the criteria of necessity and dependence on specific properties. If a GR was necessary to create a claimed invention, and the invention depends on such GR, even if indirectly and/or immaterially, it falls under the scope of this Treaty. A claimed invention relying on DSI obtained from a GR will therefore have to disclose the GR from which the DSI derives. [14]

Convention on Biological Diversity COP16

At the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties to the CBD in Cali (COP16), a decision was made to establish the Cali Fund, to which industries that use DSI, like pharma, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and biotech, will be expected to contribute a small portion of their profits to support global biodiversity conservation. [15] A methodology for implementation, including thresholds and contribution rates, is scheduled to be agreed at the seventeenth conference of the parties to the CBD. The fund will support biodiversity protection and reward Indigenous and forest communities, with 50% allocated to local and Indigenous groups. [16]

Other treaties

DSI is also an important concept in other international legally binding instruments with access and benefit-sharing obligations, including:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convention on Biological Diversity</span> International treaty on biological diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity ; the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patent</span> Type of legal protection for an invention

A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention. In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce their rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Intellectual Property Organization</span> Specialised agency of the United Nations

The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to promote and protect intellectual property (IP) across the world by cooperating with countries as well as international organizations. It began operations on 26 April 1970 when the convention entered into force. The current Director General is Singaporean Daren Tang, former head of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, who began his term on 1 October 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bioprospecting</span> Exploration of nature for material with commercial potential

Bioprospecting is the exploration of natural sources for small molecules, macromolecules and biochemical and genetic information that could be developed into commercially valuable products for the agricultural, aquaculture, bioremediation, cosmetics, nanotechnology, or pharmaceutical industries. In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, almost one third of all small-molecule drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1981 and 2014 were either natural products or compounds derived from natural products.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biodiversity Indicators Partnership</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nagoya Protocol</span> 2010 global treaty on biological diversity

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, also known as the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), is a 2010 supplementary agreement to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Its aim is the implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. It sets out obligations for its contracting parties to take measures in relation to access to genetic resources, benefit-sharing and compliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Biodiversity Authority</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant genetic resources</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biopiracy</span> Harmful and/or unethical [[bioprospecting]] research

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference</span> COP 15 (Biodiversity)

The 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was a conference held in Montreal, Canada, which led to the international agreement to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030 and the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework</span> International agreement on conservation of biodiversity

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference</span> COP 16 (Biodiversity)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge</span>

The WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge or GRATK Treaty is an international legal instrument to combat biopiracy through disclosure requirements for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge.

References

  1. ↑ Report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources, CBD/DSI/AHTEG/2018/1/4 (PDF) (Report). Convention on Biological Diversity. 20 February 2020.
  2. ↑ Houssen, Wael; Sara, Rodrigo; Marcel, Jaspars (29 January 2020). Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources: Concept, Scope and Current Use, CBD/DSI/AHTEG/2020/1/3 (PDF) (Report). Convention on Biological Diversity.
  3. ↑ Laird, Sarah; Wynberg, Rachel (12 January 2018). A Fact-Finding and Scoping Study on Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources in the Context of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol, CBD/DSI/AHTEG/2018/1/3 (PDF) (Report). Convention on Biological Diversity.
  4. 1 2 "Digital sequence information on genetic resources". Convention on Biological Diversity. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Rohden, Fabian; Scholz, Amber Hartman (2021-05-05). "The international political process around Digital Sequence Information under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2018–2020 intersessional period". Plants, People, Planet. 4 (1): 51–60. doi: 10.1002/ppp3.10198 . ISSN   2572-2611. S2CID   235562169.
  6. ↑ Daily Report for 14 December 2022, IISD, https://enb.iisd.org/un-biodiversity-conference-oewg5-cbd-cop15-daily-report-14dec2022
  7. ↑ Gaffney, Jim; Tibebu, Redeat; Bart, Rebecca; Beyene, Getu; Girma, Dejene; Kane, Ndjido Ardo; Mace, Emma S.; Mockler, Todd; Nickson, Thomas E.; Taylor, Nigel; Zastrow-Hayes, Gina (2020-09-01). "Open access to genetic sequence data maximizes value to scientists, farmers, and society". Global Food Security. 26: 100411. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100411 . ISSN   2211-9124. S2CID   225202844.
  8. ↑ UNESCO (2021-11-24). "UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science". unesdoc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  9. ↑ Decision 15/9. Digital sequence information on genetic resources (PDF) (Report). Convention on Biological Diversity. 19 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "Nations agree landmark treaty on traditional knowledge, protecting Indigenous Peoples' rights | UN News". news.un.org. 2024-05-24. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  11. ↑ WIPO (2024-05-24). WIPO Treaty on intellectual property, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge (PDF). Geneva: WIPO (published 2024).
  12. ↑ Muñoz Tellez, Viviana (2023-03-14). The WIPO Diplomatic Conference for a Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (PDF). Policy Brief Nº. 117. Geneva: South Centre.
  13. ↑ "WIPO Member States Adopt Historic New Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  14. ↑ Riboulet-Zemouli, Kenzi (2024-05-26). "Written Contribution to the Proceedings of the WIPO Diplomatic Conference on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge; Circulated to Member States and the Secretariat for inclusion in the Proceedings, according to the Rules of Procedures of the Diplomatic Conference". Cannabis Embassy (Legatio Cannabis — 大麻大使馆 — سفارة القنب). Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  15. ↑ Decision 16/2. Digital sequence information on genetic resources (PDF) (Report). Convention on Biological Diversity. 1 November 2024.
  16. ↑ Nandi, Jayashree (November 5, 2024). "Cali COP16 takeaways: Pharma, cosmetic, biotech giants to pay share of profits". Hindustan Times.
  17. ↑ Aubry, Sylvain; Frison, Christine; Medaglia, Jorge C.; Frison, Emile; Jaspars, Marcel; Rabone, Muriel; Sirakaya, Aysegul; Saxena, Devanshi; Zimmeren, Esther van (2022). "Bringing access and benefit sharing into the digital age". Plants, People, Planet. 4 (1): 5–12. doi: 10.1002/ppp3.10186 . hdl: 2164/17858 . ISSN   2572-2611. S2CID   233968334.
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