Biological Diversity (Access and Benefits Sharing) Regulation, 2025

News: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. Biological Diversity (Access and Benefits Sharing) Regulation, 2025.

About Biological Diversity (Access and Benefits Sharing) Regulation, 2025

• It is a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources, including digital sequence information or knowledge associated with it.
• The Regulation replaces The Guidelines Regulations of 2014.
  • The 2014 Regulation did not include digital sequence information in the ambit of genetic resources. This addition is crucial, considering they can be used instead of a physical form of biodiversity.

Key Highlights

• Benefit sharing is linked to turnover: The Regulation has set slabs based on the annual turnover of the person or the industry accessing the resource.

Note – All users who have an annual turnover of over 1 crore need to share a statement with information on the resources used per year.

• In case of biological resources that have high conservation or economic value, the benefit sharing shall not be less than five per cent of the proceeds of the auction or sale amount or the purchase price.
  • The benefit sharing component could go up to more than 20 per cent in case of commercial use.
  • These resources include red sanders, sandalwood, agarwood and threatened species notified under Section 38 of the Biodiversity Act 2002.
• Digital Sequence Information: The Regulation includes digital sequence information in the ambit of genetic resources.
  • A multilateral mechanism for sharing benefits accrued from the use of digital sequence information was put in place during COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia, in 2024.
• Exemption to cultivated medicinal plants: The Regulation exempts users of cultivated medicinal plants in line with the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act 2023.
  • The Amendment Act promoted cultivation of medicinal plants and freed the practitioners of Indian systems of medicine from the need to take approvals for access or share benefits.
  • In case a product contains both cultivated and uncultivated plants, benefits would not need to be shared on products identified by the MoEFCC in consultation with the AYUSH.
• Benefit sharing by researchers: The Regulation also puts in place, the requirements for benefit sharing by researchers and for those who want to apply for intellectual property rights.
• The Regulation also outlines how benefits would be shared with the claimants.
  • Of the total collected, around 10-15 per cent would be retained by the National Biodiversity Authority.

About Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS)

• ABS refers to the way in which genetic resources may be accessed, and how users and providers reach agreement on the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that might result from their use.
• Origin: Article 15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) sets out rules which govern access and benefit-sharing.
• Nagoya Protocol to CBD: The Nagoya Protocol, adopted in 2010 under the CBD, provides a legally binding framework for access to genetic resources and fair benefit-sharing.
  • In India, ABS is implemented through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002) and ABS Regulation, 2025.