Online Filing of Access and Benefit Sharing Applications

Need for the platform

National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), established in 2003 to implement the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, is an autonomous and statutory body to perform regulatory and advisory functions for Government of India on issues of conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and realization of fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of use of biological resources.

As part of its mandatory functions, NBA regulates access to India’s biological resources and associated knowledge by Indians and non‐Indians as well, for various kinds of activities, such as access for research, commercial utilization and obtaining of IPRs for the inventions based on any research or information on a biological resource obtained from India.

Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 lays down various Forms, fees, time lines and procedures to facilitate the applicants in obtaining prior approval of the NBA for various activities under the BD Act. The online platform facilitates the online filing of such applications. With the process being made online, transparency, ease of submission of applications and timely clearance of applications will be possible.

Services offered

Through the online platform, users can submit application for access to biological resources and associated knowledge for various activities, attach the required documents and also make payment of fee at a time. Users can also know the application that needs to be submitted for obtaining various approvals.

Activities which need prior approval under the Biological Diversity Act 2002

Accessing biological resources and/ or associated knowledge for:-

1. Research
2. Bio-survey and Bio-utilization
3. Commercial Utilization
4. Transfer of research results
5. Applying for Intellectual Property Rights
6. Third party transfer of accessed biological resources and/ or associated knowledge.

'Biological resources' means plants, animals and micro-organisms or parts thereof, their genetic material and by products (excluding value added products) with actual or potential use or value, but does not include human genetic material

'Research' means study or systematic investigation of any biological resource or technological application, that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof to make or modify products or processes for any use.

'Bio survey and bio utilization' means survey or collection of species, subspecies, genes, components and extracts of biological resource for any purpose and includes characterization, inventorization and bioassay.

'Commercial utilization' means end uses of biological resources for commercial utilization such as drugs, industrial enzymes, food flavours, fragrance, cosmetics, emulsifiers, oleoresins, colours, extracts and genes used for improving crops and livestock through genetic intervention, but does not include conventional breeding or traditional practices in use in any agriculture, horticulture, poultry, dairy farming, animal husbandry or bee keeping.

Who is required to get approval?

Accessing biological resources and/ or associated knowledge for:-

1. Persons who are citizens of India,
2. Body corporate, association or organization registered in India
3. Persons who are not citizens of India
4. Non-resident Indian as defined under clause 30 of Section 2 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961
5. Body corporate, Association or Organization which is not incorporated or registered in India
6. Body corporate, Association or Organisation incorporated or registered in India having non-Indian participation in its share capital or management.

Process

• Users are required to register using the registration form. On submission of the filled-in form, a confirmation mail will be sent to the email ID provided by the user at the time of registration. By clicking the link provided in the email, the user will be directed to the Home page-log in site.  The user can can now log in using his / her User ID and Password.
• Basic documents required to be kept ready before e-filing

Address/ID proof- self-attested copies of any one of the following documents, each in A & B:
A – Address Proof

1. Valid passport
2. Overseas resident card / PIO card
3. Any document to prove NRI status
4. Aadhaar card
B – Identity Proof
1. Driving Licence
2. Government ID card
3. Aadhaar card
4. PAN Card
5. Voter ID
Other documents required are
1. Letter of authorization, if there are more than one applicant or the applicant authorises someone or attorney to represent on his/her behalf
2. Proof for doing business (for entity) – Document of Incorporation
3. Agreement / MoU / letter of intent with the national/R&D institution for collaboration.
4. Agreement / any negotiated instrument between applicant and provider of biological resources

Scanned copies of all these shall be self-attested and uploaded, wherever required, while filling up the Form.

• To know about the type of form to be filled-in, click here.
• After entering necessary details and submitting the form, a unique reference number will be generated by the system and then the user will be led to the payment gateway to facilitate making payment of application fee.
• After successful payment, an acknowledgement will be auto-generated with an application number. If no digital signature is available, a print out of the acknowledgement has to be taken and forwarded to the NBA, duly signed by the applicant.
• On successful submission of the application, the user gets a system generated unique Application Number along with an Acknowledgement.

Source : ABS e-filing portal

Related resources

1. FAQS on ABS e-filing
2. Instructions to applicants