Enabling business participation in the Digital Sequence Information benefit-sharing mechanism

Environment and sustainability

Enabling business participation in the Digital Sequence Information benefit-sharing mechanism

• 2 September 2026

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Genetic sequences and information from plants, animals, microorganisms and other biological resources are increasingly being used in bio-based research and innovation across sectors. Much of this information is stored in open access databases and compliments research involving physical samples of these biological resources by both public and private sectors scientists.

Put simply, think of a scientist sequencing a plant, a microorganism or a pathogenic virus - or even creating a new sequence. When the resulting genetic sequence is uploaded to a public database, this allows researchers across the world to access that data digitally.

The Convention on Biological Diversity created a new global system for sharing benefits from the use of this open access data, recognising that existing national regulations on the use of physical genetic resources could not easily be applied to digital information.

As governments move to operationalise this new mechanism at COP17, ICC is calling for a mechanism that provides the legal certainty, clarity and proportionality needed to encourage broad participation by business.

Business calls for a mechanism that:

• supports research and innovation;
• promotes biodiversity conservation and sustainable use;
• avoids creating unnecessary barriers or distortions;
• works effectively cross countries;
• is practical and efficient.

ICC is therefore urging COP17 to prioritise:

• Taking measures to provide certainty to contributors that they will be deemed legally compliant with all Convention of Biodiversity (CBD) Party national Access and Benefits-Sharing (ABS) laws on digital sequence information, and so will have global licence-to-operate for its use;
• Reviewing how expected contributions are assessed to ensure that benefit sharing expectations are realistic, fair and equitable, and proportionate to the scale of benefits resulting from the actual use of publicly available digital sequenced information;
• Supporting a common global understanding of modalities and key terms to ensure a level playing field across countries;
• Clarifying that benefit sharing expectations do not go through the value chain, through appropriate definitions or changes to the terminology around 'use'; and
• Supporting the avoidance of overlapping obligations or payments between the multilateral mechanism and obligations under other ABS international instruments.

ICC also calls attention to the importance for business of:

• Transparency on the Cali Fund's impact on biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, and on the process to ensure compliant use of contributions to meet companies' legal and fiduciary obligations.
• Strengthening and reinforcing the value of existing open access databases for research and innovation, rather than building costly new infrastructure.

Expanding the mechanism to cover more countries and a broader range of data and materials would make participation more attractive to business, provided it ensures legal certainty, sets out proportionate benefit sharing expectations and avoids duplicate obligations.