In News:

• Senior leader Jairam Ramesh has expressed concern over the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• The bill is in the final stages of consultations in the Joint Parliamentary Committee.

What’s in Today’s Article:

• Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – About, key features, issues and analysis
• News Summary

The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

• It was introduced in Parliament in December 2021 by Union Environment Minister and was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
• The Bill amends the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 to simplify compliance requirements for domestic companies.

Key Features

• Approval for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR):
  • The Act specifies that approval of National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is required before: (i) applying for IPR involving biological resources obtained from India, or (ii) sealing of patent.
  • The Bill provides that approval will be required before the grant of IPR instead of before the application itself.
  • The Bill specifies distinct approval processes based on the origin of the entity.
    • Foreign entities as specified above will require approval from NBA whereas domestic entities will be required to register with NBA.
    • However, domestic entities will need approval from NBA at the time of commercialisation of IPR.
    • The Bill also extends the approval requirement to IPR on associated knowledge.
• Access to biological resources and associated knowledge
  • The Act requires prior approval or intimation to the regulatory authority based on the origin of the entity for obtaining biological resources occurring in India or associated knowledge.
  • The regulatory authorities under the Act for these purposes are National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and State Biodiversity Boards (SBB).
  • The Bill amends the classification of entities, list of activities requiring intimation, and adds exemptions as listed in following figure:

• Benefit sharing:
• Under the Act, NBA is required to determine terms of benefit sharing while granting approvals for various activities.
  • Benefit sharing refers to requiring applicants to share monetary and non-monetary benefits with benefit claimers and local people.
• The Act makes benefit sharing provisions applicable to research, commercial utilisation, as well as bio-survey and bio-utilisation for certain entities.
• The Bill removes its applicability from research, and bio-survey and bio-utilisation.
• The Bill adds that SBB will determine benefit sharing while granting approvals to domestic entities as per the regulations by NBA.
• Offences and Penalties:
  • Under the Act, offences include failing to take approval or providing prior intimation for various activities.
    • These offences are punishable with imprisonment of up to five years, or a fine, or both.
  • The Bill decriminalises the offences and makes offences punishable with a penalty between one lakh rupees and Rs 50 lakh.
  • Continuing contravention may attract an additional penalty of up to one crore rupees.

Key Issues and Analysis

• The term “codified traditional knowledge” has not been defined. A broad interpretation might exempt all local traditional knowledge from benefit sharing requirements.
• The Bill removes the direct role of local communities in determining benefit sharing provisions.
• The Bill decriminalises offences under the Act and instead provides for a wide range of penalties.
• Further, the Bill empowers government officials to hold inquiries and determine penalties. It may be questioned whether it is appropriate to confer such discretion to government officials.

News Summary

• Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh has expressed concern over the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Concerns raised

• Exemption given to AYUSH practitioners
  • Jairam Ramesh questioned the exemption given to AYUSH practitioners from the provisions of the law.
  • As per him, this exemption could open the law for abuse.
    • He is one of the members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the bill.
• Artificial distinction between company and AYUSH practitioner created
• The Ministry is drawing a distinction between a registered AYUSH practitioner and a company by exempting the former from the Act.
  • AYUSH - Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy
• This is an artificial distinction since the registered AYUSH practitioner may well be having informal links with a collective [family or otherwise], which may or may not have a company structure.
• This may well open doors for large-scale exemptions.
• Distinction made between cultivated biodiversity and forest-based biodiversity
  • Ramesh also sounded an alarm on the distinction made in the law between cultivated biodiversity and forest-based biodiversity.
  • It is not at all clear what the basis for this distinction will be and whether it can be sustained in practice.
• Diluting the authority of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
  • As per Mr Ramesh, multiple provisions of the Bill are aimed at diluting the authority of the National Biodiversity Authority.
  • The appointment of 16 ex-officio officers of the Government of India is one such.
  • Also, the new bill provides that the NBA approval is required only at the time of commercialisation of a patent and not at the time of application for a patent.
    • Analysts believe the NBA approval at the time of commercialisation will be reduced to a formality and will become a fait accompli.