IFRA and IOFI publish Nagoya Protocol guidance

IFRA and its partners at the International Organization of the Flavor Industry (IOFI) have published joint guidance on the Nagoya Protocol for companies in the fragrance and flavor industries.

The 'Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity' commits parties to the Protocol and was negotiated and adopted under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The Protocol requires States to establish a clear and transparent legally binding framework determining how researchers and companies who use genetic resources or traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources should obtain access to them and how benefits resulting from their use should be fairly and equitably shared.

Guidance document

The IFRA-IOFI Guidance document and its Annexes (see links below) help companies navigate the wide variety of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) regulations that have arisen worldwide. 

The Guidance has five annexes, covering Brazil, the European Union, India, South Africa and Switzerland.

The fragrance and flavor industries fully support the objectives of the Nagoya Protocol and want to help companies understand the complexity of this legal framework.

Webinar

IFRA and IOFI also held a joint webinar for members on this topic on 11 May 2020, introducing the Guidance Document. A recording of this webinar can be viewed below.

Speakers at the webinar included Dr Matthias Vey (IFRA Vice-President, Scientific Affairs), Maxime Marchal (IOFI Public Affairs Projects Manager), Jocelyne Kurtz (IFRA-IOFI Nagoya Protocol Task Force Chair), Stephanie Paquin-Jaloux (IFRA-IOFI Nagoya Protocol Task Force Vice-Chair), Maria Eugenia Saldanha (IFRA LATAM Regional Director), Thomas Delille (Mayer Brown) and Michael Gristwood (Executive Director, SAAFFI - South Africa).