Leverve, Florian --- "Checking the Lie of the Land: Current Trends in Bioprospecting Related Laws" [2007] ELECD 284; in Westkamp, Guido (ed), "Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Westkamp, Guido

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845427757

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: Checking the Lie of the Land: Current Trends in Bioprospecting Related Laws

Author(s): Leverve, Florian

Number of pages: 25

Extract:

15. Checking the lie of the land:
Current trends in bioprospecting
related laws
Florian Leverve
Bioprospecting is the systematic search, classification and investigation for
commercial and scientific purposes of new sources of biochemical
compounds, genes and other products with present or potential value. It seeks
compounds of interest that originate in the complexity of biodiversity.1 The
latter seems to be more pronounced in `southern' countries, whereas exploita-
tion of it occurs mainly in the `north'. Its commercial applications are seen in
various sectors such as the enhancement of crops, the improvement of tech-
nologies, the design of natural personal care products and cosmetics, and the
development of new drugs.2
The Rio Earth Summit was held in June 1992 during which the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) was promulgated. Although it mainly
addressed the protection of biodiversity, general guidance was also specified
concerning the means to regulate access to biological resources. No real
harmonization exists worldwide. In particular, the specificities of each coun-
try associated with a recent legal development lead to a certain variability.3


1 CBD Art 2 biodiversity: `the variability among living organisms from all
sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the
ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species,
between species and of ecosystems'.
2 See S.A. Laird and K. ten Kate, `Biodiversity prospecting: the commercial use
of genetic resources and best practice in benefit sharing' in Biodiversity and Traditional
Knowledge. Equitable Partnerships in Practice, ...