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Access and Benefit-Sharing Regime of Spain: Striking the Right Balance Between Its Interests as a Provider and a User of Genetic Resources

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Global Transformations in the Use of Biodiversity for Research and Development

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 95))

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Abstract

Spain anticipated the possibility of regulating the access to and utilization of its genetic resources through Law No. 42 of 2007, a power that it had not exercised until recently. Newly adopted Royal Decree No. 124/2017 related to the access to genetic resources deriving from wild taxons and to the control of their utilization, soundly fulfills obligations set under the Nagoya Protocol and the European rules on the matter. In addition, the Decree perfectly strikes the balance between Spain’s interests as provider and a user of genetic resources. After an illustration of the uniqueness of Spanish biodiversity and the country’s commitment to the access and benefit-sharing negotiations, the chapter analyses how access to Spanish genetic resources is regulated. It also elaborates on the national measures taken to fulfill the obligations set under Regulation (EU) No. 511/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on compliance measures. The case of Spain may well serve as an example to other countries which, like Spain, have a dual role, being both provider and user of genetic resources.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Biodiversity and Natural Heritage Strategic Plan 2011–2017 (2011), p. 103095.

  2. 2.

    Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales (2002), p. 18.

  3. 3.

    Pardo de Santayana Gómez de Olea et al. (2012), p. 9.

  4. 4.

    Fernández López and Amezcúa Ogayar (2007).

  5. 5.

    Morales et al. (2011), p. 175.

  6. 6.

    Lago Candeira and Silvestri (2012), pp. 270–271.

  7. 7.

    Regulation (EU) No. 511/2014 on compliance measures for users from the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization in the Union.

  8. 8.

    Silvestri and Lago Candeira (2015), p. 223.

  9. 9.

    Asociación Española de Bioempresas (2018), p. 29.

  10. 10.

    Ratification Instrument to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Rio de Janeiro on June 5, 1992.

  11. 11.

    Ratification Instrument of the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and equitable sharing of the benefits deriving from their utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Nagoya on October 29, 2010.

  12. 12.

    For details on the EU regime on access and benefit-sharing see Winter in this volume.

  13. 13.

    https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?lang=es&id=BOE-A-2007-21490.

  14. 14.

    https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2015/BOE-A-2015-10142-consolidado.pdf.

  15. 15.

    https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2017-2743.

  16. 16.

    NP, Article 6.1.

  17. 17.

    Spanish Constitution, Article 149.1.23.

  18. 18.

    Spanish Constitution, Article 148.1.9.

  19. 19.

    Spanish Constitution, Article 149.1.23.

  20. 20.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71.10.

  21. 21.

    Lago Candeira and Silvestri (2012), p. 287.

  22. 22.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71 and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 3.1.

  23. 23.

    NP, Article 2.c and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 2.

  24. 24.

    Guidance document on the scope of application and core obligations of Regulation (EU) No. 511/2014 section 2.3.3.

  25. 25.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71. 4 and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 3.3.

  26. 26.

    Exclusively taxonomic purposes means “the application of principles and methods for the identification, delimitation and classification of living beings, which requires the study of their phylogenetic relationships as well as of the evolutionary and ecological processes that biodiversity has generated, by using morphological, physiological, genetic, behavioral and environmental data.” Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 2.3.

  27. 27.

    If transfer is made to a third party for the purpose of utilization, it must be indicated that any use of the genetic resource will require the prior authorization of access in accordance with Law No. 42/2007, of 13 December, and with the Royal Decree No. 124/2017 (Article 3.3).

  28. 28.

    Law No. 42/2007, Articles 71.4 a and c.

  29. 29.

    Silvestri and Lago Candeira (2015), p. 219.

  30. 30.

    Law No. 30/2006, Article 45.3.

  31. 31.

    In other words, Law 42/2007 excludes from its scope plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and states they are regulated by law 30/2006. Law 30/2006 itself excludes from its scope plant genetic resources for food and agriculture included in the ITPGRFA. This means that access to in-situ plant GR covered by the ITPGRFA would then again be covered by law 42/2002. In practical terms this is a buried cross reference and have the undesirable effect of the inexistence of an specific regulation for in-situ access to plant GR covered by the International Treaty.

  32. 32.

    MAGRAMA (2015), p. 208.

  33. 33.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, third final provision.

  34. 34.

    Spanish Constitution, Article 148.1.9.

  35. 35.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 68.2.

  36. 36.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 5.2.

  37. 37.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71.5.

  38. 38.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 5.1.d.

  39. 39.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71.3 and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 5.1.a.

  40. 40.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 5.1.

  41. 41.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 6.2.

  42. 42.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 5.1.

  43. 43.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 6.4.

  44. 44.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 6.5.

  45. 45.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 6.1.

  46. 46.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 7.2.

  47. 47.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 7.6.

  48. 48.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 7.1.

  49. 49.

    NP, Articles 7 and 12.

  50. 50.

    Lago Candeira and Silvestri (2012), p. 292.

  51. 51.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 2.1.

  52. 52.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 2.2.

  53. 53.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Appendices 2 and 4.

  54. 54.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Appendix 2 and Article 6.2.

  55. 55.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Appendix 4.

  56. 56.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71.6 and Royal Decree No. 124/2, Article 10, subsections 2 and 3.

  57. 57.

    ABS Clearing House. Profile: Spain.

  58. 58.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71 and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Articles 6 and 7.

  59. 59.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 6.4.

  60. 60.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71.7.

  61. 61.

    NP, Articles 1 and 9.

  62. 62.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 7.4.

  63. 63.

    NP, Articles 15, 16 and 17.

  64. 64.

    Regulation (EU) No 511/2014, Article 4.1.

  65. 65.

    Regulation (EU) No 511/2014, Article 4, items 1 and 3.

  66. 66.

    Regulation (EU) No 511/2014, Article 4.3.

  67. 67.

    Regulation (EU) No 511/2014, Article 7, items 1 and 2.

  68. 68.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.3.

  69. 69.

    Buck and Hamilton (2011), p. 53.

  70. 70.

    Regulation (EU) No. 124/2017, Article 14, items 1.a, 2.a and 3.a.

  71. 71.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14, items 1.c, 2.b and 3.b.

  72. 72.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.1.c.

  73. 73.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.1.d.

  74. 74.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.2.b.

  75. 75.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.2.b.

  76. 76.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.3.b and 14.4.

  77. 77.

    Regulation (EU) No 511/2014, Article 9.

  78. 78.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Articles 15.1 and 13.2.a.

  79. 79.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Articles 15.1 and 13.1.e.

  80. 80.

    Regulation (EU) No. 511/2014, Article 9.3, items a and b and Royal Decree No. 124/207, Article 15, items 2 and 3.

  81. 81.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 16. 1.

  82. 82.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 12.

  83. 83.

    Law No. 42/2007, Articles 80, items 1.u and 1.v and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 19.

  84. 84.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 81.

  85. 85.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 68.2.

  86. 86.

    Mainly, Regulation (EU) No. 511/2014.

  87. 87.

    NP, Article 6.3.

  88. 88.

    MITECO Website.

  89. 89.

    NP, Article 13.

  90. 90.

    Spanish Constitution, Article 148.1.9.

  91. 91.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 68.2.

  92. 92.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 68.2 and Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 5.2.

  93. 93.

    NP, Article 8 (a).

  94. 94.

    ABS Clearing House database: Profile Spain. http://www.absch.cbd.int/countries/ES/IRCC.

  95. 95.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 3.2.

  96. 96.

    Prathapan et al. (2018), p. 3.

  97. 97.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 3.3.

  98. 98.

    Law No. 42/2007, Article 71.7.

  99. 99.

    NP, Articles 1 and 9.

  100. 100.

    NP, Article 15.

  101. 101.

    NP, Article 16.

  102. 102.

    NP, Article 17.

  103. 103.

    Royal Decree No. 124/2017, Article 14.3.

  104. 104.

    NP, Article 17.1.a.

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  1. Institute of Human, Social and Environmental Sciences, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Mendoza, Argentina

    Luciana C. Silvestri

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  1. Faculty of Law, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Evanson Chege Kamau

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Silvestri, L.C. (2022). Access and Benefit-Sharing Regime of Spain: Striking the Right Balance Between Its Interests as a Provider and a User of Genetic Resources. In: Chege Kamau, E. (eds) Global Transformations in the Use of Biodiversity for Research and Development. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 95. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88711-7_15

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