GENETIC RESOURCES IN MEXICO
FULFILLING GOOD INTENTIONS
The current regulations in Mexico provide a legal framework for protecting genetic resources, but the framework for investing in new biotechnology is still not clear, as Karla Roxana Aispuro Castro and Mariana González Vargas of Becerril, Coca & Becerril report.
exploitation of our natural resources has reached worrying levels, and the extinction of numerous animal and vegetal species due to human activity has led the international community to adopt specifi c measures to promote the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
B
With this in mind, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was established and came into force in 1993. It has three main objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of
the components of biological diversity,
and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefi ts arising from genetic resources. Further, the CBD has adopted two supplementary agreements that are very important in this matter: the Cartagena Protocol in 2003 and the Nagoya Protocol, which came into force in October 2014.
T e Cartagena Protocol seeks to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modifi ed organisms resulting from modern biotechnology
38 Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review
iological resources are hugely important for current and future economic and social development. But the over-
that may have adverse eff ects on biological diversity, taking into account risks to human health. T e Nagoya Protocol aims
Clarity is needed to fairly and equitably
share the benefi ts derived from the use of genetic resources, including providing suitable access to genetic resources and technology transfer. As a result, it aims to contribute to the conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of its components.
However, the CBD is considered by some to contradict intellectual property laws. While the CBD encourages states to control their biological resources, IP rights confer a condition of being ‘private’ property, when the legal requirements are met.
In fact, some countries have accused multinational enterprises that
use biological
materials from a country and convert them into products or services of ‘biopiracy’. T ese inventions are later patented and sold to people in the original country. However, the companies claim that there is no such biopiracy, but instead bad patent examination; they want clarity on whose consent they need to sell these products.
Volume 2, Issue 1
T e CBD recognises the confl ict and has taken action to help solve it. On May 16, 2012, Mexico became the fi ſt h country to ratify the Nagoya Protocol awnd the fi rst of the so-called mega- diverse countries to do so. Mexico ratifi ed the Cartagena Protocol in August 2002.
In fact Mexico has had a regulatory framework in accordance with the principles of the CBD since 1996. For instance, article 87 of
the
General Law on Ecologic Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (GLEEEP) established that
the collection of biological resources for
research purposes requires authorisation from the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), and that the collector shall guarantee the results be available to the public. However, such an authorisation does not grant the right to use the resources for biotechnology purposes, which are subject to the provisions of article 87 bis.
Article 87 bis states that the exploitation of
biological resources for biotechnology
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