Micro B3 ABS Model Agreement released

The Micro B3 model agreement on access to marine microorganisms and benefit sharing has been adopted by the Extended Executive Board on the 8 of May 2013 in Bremen. The model agreement has been released on the 10th of June and it is now available on our website:

Micro B3 ABS Model Agreement

The agreement provides the legal framework for sampling and analysis activities to comply with the international and national legal obligations on access and benefit sharing. By signing the agreement, the provider country gives the research consortium the permit to sample in its seas and enters into a partnership. In such partnership some mutual benefits are automatically included and others can be negotiated while signing the agreement. Full transparency, protection from misappropriation, access to scientific results and data through open access integrated databases are the main benefits acquired by entering the partnership, together with the possibility to get monetary benefit sharing in cases of proprietary uses of the resources. Other possible benefits deal with the different phases of the research pipelines from sampling to processing and data management. For examples, upon negotiation scientists from the provider country can be offered the opportunity to participate to the sampling and the analysis activities, to participate in training for capacity building on bio-informatics or data management, or possible collaboration with sequencing laboratories can be put in place.