Global governance
ICC hosts new opportunity to work out ABS in Paris
With only one week remaining until its Conference on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) takes place in Paris, ICC is putting out a final call to register to anyone who will be affected by the new European Union rules on ABS when they become fully applicable on 12 October 2015.
Executives and policymakers will not want to miss this unique opportunity to get the latest information on how to comply with the new rules and to discuss how the new regulation will affect their daily operations. With the expected release of the draft Implementing Act this week, the conference will provide a timely forum for European Commission (EC) and other speakers to explain its provisions and discuss these with participants.
Led by experts from ICC, the EC, national governments, the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat, companies and business associations, dynamic sessions and group workshops will help shed light on the scope of the obligations under the regulation, the concerned actors and how the utilization of genetic resources will be monitored and verified along the supply chain.
ICC’s ABS conference showed how seriously the industry is taking the matter of ABS regarding genetic resources and how desperately companies needed further guidance to help them comply with the new EU Regulation.
The new rules may affect anyone working in the manufacturing, development and distribution of genetic resources. It is extremely important for these professionals to better understand the new EU regulation and this ICC conference is our response to the need for better training and greater guidance on this issue.
“ICC’s ABS conference showed how seriously the industry is taking the matter of ABS regarding genetic resources and how desperately companies needed further guidance to help them comply with the new EU Regulation”, said Alexandra Bonsch of the German Plant Breeders Association who attended last year’s conference.
The two-day conference will take place in Paris on 28-29 September, with a programme featuring plenary sessions focused on interpreting and implementing the new rules at each stage of a company’s operations followed up by practical workshops and other activities aimed at reinforcing the understanding of key issues developed during the plenary sessions.
As the world business organization, ICC actively contributes to discussions on the links between intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge in a range of forums including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization. Leveraging its global network of over 6.5 million enterprises, ICC also played active role coordinating business participation in the Nagoya Protocol negotiations and continues to coordinate business input in the process of national implementation.
This event is kindly supported by Croplife and Monsanto.
Registration
ICC Conference on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS): Paris, 28-29 September 2015.
