The National Biodiversity Authority has issued the Biological Diversity (Access to Biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulations, 2025 (“Regulations”) which is effective from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette i.e. 30th April 2025. These Regulations supersede the Guidelines on Access to Biological Resources and Associated Knowledge and Benefits Sharing Regulations, 2014.
Key Highlights:
- The Regulations aim to protect and preserve the diversity of living organisms and their habitats. They promote the responsible use of biological resources in a way that does not compromise their long-term availability.
- The Regulations state that any person having an annual turnover of more than one crore rupees shall submit an annual statement containing information regarding the biological resource consumed in the financial year in Form A, within three months of finalization of annual income tax or corporate tax return in respect of that financial year
- The Regulations mandate that any person who intends to access biological resource including digital sequence information or knowledge associated, for commercial utilisation shall give prior intimation to the Board or Council through a web portal in Form B along with the fee (two thousand rupees in case of an individual and five thousand rupees in case of an entity) and the applicant shall also give their consent to the mutually agreed terms and conditions appended to the said Form.
- Further, the Regulations state that any Indian researcher or scientist who has discovered a novel microbial strain from India and intends to deposit the same in the repositories outside India for publication in the journals for claiming novelty as per the agreed international requirements, shall apply on the web portal of the Authority in Form E.
Source: National Biodiversity Authority
