On behalf of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) — a Competent National Authority on ABS — the Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA) has been implementing the Bonn Guidelines in order to help the business and scientific communities build a win-win relationship with other countries in compliance with the CBD principles. I provide below some feedback on this experience.

ABS Guidelines for Users — Soon after the adoption of the Bonn Guidelines, JBA translated them into Japanese and disseminated them by holding, throughout 2003 and 2004, seminars in major cities across the country.

As the Bonn Guidelines became better understood, users provided us with important feedback, including that:

The Guidelines were often seen as too general to be able to respond to the practical needs of users; more user-specific and user-friendly guidelines were needed.

‘Practical Tools’ are as important as ‘Principles’ — the lack of practical tools for implementation, forces companies to stop using genetic resources of other countries, and the ABS principles become impediments to sound development of science and technology.

Taking these issues into consideration, we decided to develop user-specific guidelines. In consultation with a task force, consisting of experts from industry and academia, we thus developed the Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources for Users in Japan. These were published in April 2005 The Japan Guidelines emphasize that the basic premise is to comply with the laws and administrative measures of the providing country and, if such national laws or administrative measures are not in place, to develop a contract with the counterpart, bearing in mind the relevant provisions of the CBD and the Bonn Guidelines.

The Japan Guidelines aim to help both providers and users of genetic resources to build win-win relationships, and to minimize the risk of encountering problems, while ensuring business flexibility. During 2005 and 2006, we disseminated the document by organizing public seminars in major cities across the country. Dissemination will continue beyond 2007.

On the basis of the Japan Guidelines, we developed a number of services for users of genetic resources, including:

Workshops — In order to promote the development of partnerships between users of genetic resources and providing countries, we invite CBD officials and experts to Japan for exchange of information. We have held workshops with Australia, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Website on ABS rules of providing countries — We created a Japanese-language website for the dissemination of information on ABS-related policy, laws and regulation of different countries, to assist Japanese users of genetic resources.

JBA Help Desk — Because JBA has been involved in CBD matters since 1993, it has accumulated considerable experience. JBA can thus give advice, free of charge and on a confidential basis. In the past two and a half years, JBA has handled more than 65 consultations.

Group Training Courses Since 1989, group training courses in bioindustries have been organised, in Japan, by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JBA. The two-month course caters to government officials and researchers in national institutes from developing countries. The programme includes lectures, field trips to public research institutes and facilities of different sectors of bio industries, and hands-on research in microbial taxonomy at a national research institute. The lectures cover a wide range of subjects, including bio industry policy-making, trends and status of bio industry, CBD and ABS, biosafety and intellectual property rights

When I have been asked to speak about Japan’s ABS practices, I have usually ended my presentation with a few personal statements. Let me do so also in this paper. The situation is different from country to country. Domestic needs are different, national policy is different, laws and regulatory systems are different.

Even under these circumstances, different people can successfully collaborate if they identify points of mutual interest (see box, previous page). Above all, the key to success, it seems to me, is mutual understanding.

Dr. Seizo Sumida is Director General, Research Institute of Biological Resources, Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA).

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(1) Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of bioscience, biotechnology and bioindustry, established in 1942 through the support of industry, academia and government. It functions as a think tank and a platform for cooperation among scientists, technologists, corporate managers and policy makers.
(2) guidelines (japanese)
(3) Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources For Users in Japan
(4) So far, we have invited 180 individuals from 30 developing countries from Asia (Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam); Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay); Africa (Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia); and Economies in Transition (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary).