38 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I n previous editions of European Seed, seed company experts discussed struggles relating to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) for plant genetic resources (PGR), entered into force in October 2014. In our second article in this series, we sat down with experts at various global biotech firms. In this third and last part, we present a picture of how aca- demia is faring. Our experts include: Kristiaan Van Laecke, Head of the Plant Sciences Unit at ILVO (Research Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food) in Belgium; Stefanie van der Burght, Research Integrity & Ethics Advisor at Ghent University in Belgium; Anne-Françoise Adam-Blondon, deputy Director at the Plant Biology and Breeding division of INRA in France; Theo van Hintum and Martin Brink from the Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN) of Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands; Sebastien Carpentier, a bioscience engineer at Bioversity International, a CGIAR Research Centre in Rome, Italy; Alexandrine Rey, legal expert, Intellectual Property and Biotechnologies at CIRAD, France. Please note that an extended version of this article appears online. ES: WHAT ARE THE WAYS IN WHICH THE VARIOUS ABS REGULATIONS HAVE AFFECTED YOUR ORGANIZATION? STEFANIE VAN DER BURGHT (SVB): Researchers have to meet a lot of requirements before starting their research. Because Belgium only ratified recently, this also needs to be done retro- actively. There is a lot of administration, a hard process of making contact with COO (country of origin) and getting the necessary documents, and a lot of uncertainty about implementation. At the organizational level, we must implement the regulations, urgently provide support for researchers, develop policy, create infrastruc- ture and do training and communication. ANNE-FRANÇOISE ADAM-BLONDON (AFAB): First, it has cre- ated a very long and ongoing period of legal insecurity around PGR exchanges: France has not yet completely stabilized its national implementation. Second, the overall PGR ecosystem has many activities related to the conservation of diversity which are based on trust and non-monetary knowledge sharing. It is important to save this trust by discussing the implementation of these rules in our practices with all our partners. The good side is that this process has emphasized again the necessity to manage a standardized documentation and to renew the charter of the French public-private networks involved in germplasm conservation. THEO VAN HINTUM AND MARTIN BRINK (TVH/MB): We need to better document the origin of the PGR in our collections and better explain that origin to users. Acquiring new PGR for our collections has also become much more complicated or even impossible. Although the ABS might develop into a more work- able system, we see that access to PGR has been reduced con- siderably in many, if not most, countries in the world, which is obstructing conservation. We are very worried about this. Proper access is essential in ensuring world food supply and adaptation to climate change. KRISTIAAN VAN LAECKE (KVL): Up to now, these regulations have resulted in material transfer agreements (MTA) between our institute and genebanks when we receive seeds from gen- ebank accessions. Seeds from our collection (not the commer- cially available cultivars) are sent to users with MTAs. ES: WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU MADE TO COMPLY? ALEXANDRINE REY (AR): Model contracts have been created and we are trying to adapt them continually. We also worked on decision support tools to determine the status of a resource and to define the appropriate material transfer agreement. To support this process, we launched the ABS4BRCS project which will propose legal solu- tions for the compliance of biological resource centers. SVB: A core working group was established to plan an adminis- trative system, support, training and communication. There is a policy advisor that partially (20%) works on ABS and some legal support. We’ve made some tools to guide researchers such as a web page, a decision tree about compliance (EU and national) and a manual with tips and examples to help with contacting the COO and follow correct procedure. We plan to adjust our system to archive documents. AFAB: We are updating and signing charters of collaboration for the public-private network for the conservation of PGR, NO ACCESS, NO BENEFITS – PART 3 – THE VIEW FROM ACADEMIA WHAT IT TAKES FOR ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS TO KEEP TRACK OF THEIR GENETIC RESOURCES. BY: TREENA HEIN