Biological Diversity (Access and Benefit Sharing) Regulation, 2025:
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) notified the Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 to ensure fair benefit sharing from the use of biological resources.
Key Highlights of the Biological Diversity (Access and Benefit Sharing) Regulation, 2025:
- All users who have an annual turnover of over Rs 1 crore need to share a statement with information on the resources used per year.
- For high-value biological resources like red sanders, sandalwood, agarwood, and threatened species under the Biodiversity Act, 2002 benefit sharing must be at least 5% of the sale or auction amount, and can exceed 20% for commercial use.
- The 2025 Regulation replaces the 2014 Guidelines, expanding the scope to include DSI, which can now be considered part of genetic resources, unlike the earlier framework.
- DSI refers to the digital representation of genetic sequences derived from Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Ribonucleic acid (RNA), or proteins of organisms. It’s essentially the digital code of an organism’s genetic makeup.
- The Regulation mandates benefit-sharing for researchers and intellectual property applicants, with 10-15% of the collected benefits retained by the NBA.
- Cultivated medicinal plants are exempt from benefit sharing.
- This exemption stems from the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act 2023, which promoted medicinal plant cultivation and eased compliance for AYUSH practitioners.
