Food security and access and benefit sharing laws relating to genetic resources: promoting synergies in national and international governance

Are the national laws regulating access to genetic resources that countries have enacted in exercise of their sovereign rights accorded by the Convention on Biological Diversity jeopardising food security by failing to take into account the distinctive features of genetic resources for food and agriculture? If so what can be done about it? What are the obstacles to doing so? And how can they be overcome, especially in the context of the present ongoing negotiations for an international regime on access and benefits sharing under the biodiversity convention? This article examines the impact of the national access laws and other instruments on the free access and exchange of these genetic resources and hence on the maintenance of agricultural biological diversity upon which food security hinges so critically. It highlights the obstacles that stand in the way of developing countries facilitating access to their genetic resources and proposes a multilateral non-market-orientated approach to overcome them.     

Challenges and prospects of implementing the access and benefit sharing regime of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Africa: the case of Ethiopia

An analysis of the implementation of the access and benefit sharing (ABS) regime under the Convention on Biological Diversity and other related regimes in Africa and, in particular, Ethiopia, reveals the following challenges: (a) centralization of power in the hands of the federal government with little attention to regional and local governments; (b) lack of effective mechanism for the participation of communities in ABS; (c) generality and vagueness of the regulatory regime and lack of regulations and guidelines for the effective implementation of the regulatory regime, (c) poor drafting of ABS Agreements; and (d) lack of effective enforcement and follow-up mechanisms for ABS Agreements. Nonetheless, despite the shortcomings, the article suggests that Ethiopia’s experience provides an important lesson for other countries confronted with the challenge of designing fair genetic resource governance at the national level and, more importantly, shows the challenges poor countries face in developing and implementing ABS Laws and in negotiating, concluding and enforcing ABS Agreements.     

Domestic judicial defiance and the authority of international legal regimes

Tensions and occasional overt defiance of international courts suggest that compliance with international regimes is not a self-evident choice for domestic judges. I develop a formal theory of domestic judicial defiance in which domestic and supranational judges vie for jurisprudential authority in a non-hierarchical setting. The model emphasises the role of domestic non-compliance costs and power asymmetries in determining the conduct of domestic and international judges. I argue that the EU represents a special case of a particularly effective international regime. Weak domestic courts have little to gain from an escalated conflict with the European court of Justice. But even domestic judicial superpowers like the German Federal Constitutional Court have strong incentives to seek mutual accommodation with European judges. The analysis also yields new insights into concepts, such as “judicial dialogue” and “constitutional pluralism” that have featured prominently in the legal literature, and suggests new hypotheses for empirical research.     

Domestic biodiplomacy: navigating between provider and user categories for genetic resources in Brazil and French Guiana

Is the rationale of the convention on biological diversity (CBD)—the distinction between provider and user of genetic resources—outdated? While the response is in the negative at the global level, as demonstrated by the adoption in 2010 of the Nagoya Protocol, the provider–user distinction, if portrayed exclusively as a North–South relation, is no longer adequate to fully apprehend the political and legal dynamics at work in access and benefit sharing (ABS) regimes. Evolving configurations of this distinction can be found in a country that formerly saw itself solely as a provider (Brazil) and in a country that initially considered itself as both a user and a provider (France). In both cases, non-State actors (even if from the public sector) are reinterpreting the categories of the CBD for their own ends and are seeking to gain prerogatives related to the governance of genetic resources. That said, the trajectories of Brazil and French Guiana are quite different. While Brazil appears to be leaving behind an indiscriminate fight against biopiracy and entering a process of valorization of resources (led by the national scientific community), Guiana is shifting toward a locally governed regime that seeks to control as much as possible but which is difficult to put in place, even if arrangements have commenced on the fringes of official negotiations. Finally, the article shows that the content of ABS regimes is specified by the outcomes of local dynamics of biodiplomacy as much as by the stereotypical hypotheses discussed at a global level.     

中国生态保护和资源开发利用的国际合作法制建设

环境问题既是中国国内的法律问题，也是国际性的法律问题，需要各国采取协调行动来解决。共同但有区别的责任和国际合作，是中国在全球生态和资源开发利用方面坚持的两个基本原则。中国目前采取了签订条约、参与国际和区域环境事务等国际合作措施，发展和完善了确认与保护、鼓励和支持、限制与禁止、敦促与制裁等方面的国际环境合作制度。虽然存在发达国家的经济和技术援助不到位、贸易壁垒隐藏在国际合作机制中、发达国家和周边国家封中国提出的环境要求过于苛刻等问题，但中国的生态保护和资源开发利用国际合作制度的实施，近年来在区域和全球层面仍然取得了很大的成效。     

Diagnostic testing of genetic disorders: limiting the scope of patent claims through disclosure requirements

The breadth of claims in patents relating to genetic inventions has been controversial for some time. Possible adverse effects of broad claims include inhibiting research and higher costs, restricting patient access to genetic testing. The Australian Law Reform Commission's Report on Genes and Ingenuity--Gene Patenting and Human Health examined this issue, and concluded that the existing disclosure requirements contained in s 40 of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) provide adequate mechanisms to control the breadth of claims. However, application of these requirements may be problematical in practice due to lack of relevant case law to provide guidance to patent examiners. It has been suggested that this deficit in direct judicial guidance can be obviated by developing appropriate analogies with other chemical systems in decided cases. This article focuses on gene-based diagnostic patents for human diseases, such as those held by Myriad Genetics for testing predisposition towards breast and ovarian cancer using the gene BRCA1. By examining the application of disclosure requirement by courts in genetic and non-genetic chemical inventions, it is possible to provide insight into how this might be applied by courts considering the validity of patent claims for diagnostic testing methods based on mutations in a gene such as BRCA1.     

Researching the use of force: the background to the international project

This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in seven countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officers’ own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of force. The results show interesting similarities and differences across countries and demonstrate the value of using this kind of research focus and methodology.

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The growth and gaps of genetic data sharing policies in the United States

The 1996 Bermuda Principles launched a new era in data sharing, reflecting a growing belief that the rapid public dissemination of research data was crucial to scientific progress in genetics. A historical review of data sharing policies in the field of genetics and genomics reflects changing scientific norms and evolving views of genomic data, particularly related to human subjects’ protections and privacy concerns. The 2013 NIH Draft Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy incorporates the most significant protections and guidelines to date. The GDS Policy, however, will face difficult challenges ahead as geneticists seek to balance the very real concerns of research participants and the scientific norms that propel research forward. This article provides a novel evaluation of genetic and GDS policies’ treatment of human subjects’ protections. The article examines not only the policies, but also some of the most pertinent scientific, legal, and regulatory developments that occurred alongside data sharing policies. This historical perspective highlights the challenges that future data sharing policies, including the recently disseminated NIH GDS Draft Policy, will encounter.     

NASP program technology: An example of transfer benefit for the medical industry and spinback benefit for the government

Technology developed in the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program is finding its way into a variety of applications ranging from aerospace to automotive to medical. The NASP Technology Applications Integrated Product Team (IPT) is pursuing technology transfer opportunities to promote the wide use of NASP-developed or-inspired materials in these and other industries. While product innovations and enhancements serve the commercial sector well, they also spin back to the government in the form of cheaper, higher-performing systems and components.     

Explaining the choice between alternative insolvency regimes for troubled companies in the UK and Sweden

Over the past 20 years UK and Swedish insolvency law has moved in the direction of company rescue rather than enforcing secured creditor priority. However, both countries show a low take up rate of rescue procedures. This paper uses a cost-benefit approach to examine the choices faced by key stakeholders using the now conventional transaction cost paradigm. The paper argues that it is predominantly the ex post indirect and time costs which explain the poor take up of customised rescue procedures. In both countries the ex ante cost of delay in filing also presents a tough challenge not fully addressed by policymakers. JEL Classification K22     

Donor-conceived individuals and access to information about their genetic origins: the relevance and role of rights

The discourse of rights has increasingly been used to frame debates about access to information for donor-conceived individuals. This article seeks to clarify the moral and legal basis upon which human rights are relevant to this issue. It outlines the elements of a substantive rights-based approach which is then used to resolve the competing rights of a donor and a donor-conceived individual. Three arguments are offered. First, donor anonymity must be prohibited prospectively and donor-conceived individuals must be entitled to information about their genetic parents. Secondly, a context-sensitive application of a human rights-based approach allows retrospective access to non-identifying information but precludes retrospective access to identifying information where a donor wishes to remain anonymous in circumstances where anonymity was guaranteed at the time of donation. Finally, despite this finding, a rights-based approach requires states to actively encourage such donors to consent to the release of identifying information and to take reasonable steps to support donor-conceived individuals in circumstances where donors refuse to provide their consent.     

刍议实现控辩平等的基本途径

控辩平等是现代刑事诉讼的基石，而控辩平等又与一个国家一定时期的司法现状密切相关。从司法运行实践看，影响控辩不平等的主要因素在于控方实力过于强大，辩方力量的相对弱小，而法官又很难以在二者之间保持平衡。特别是在以强调犯罪控制为主基调的国家，国家追诉权具有不断扩大的倾向，司法权的膨胀是导致控方力量超限度强大的内在动因。