Before acquiring germplasm, perhaps the major initial challenge is to find out what laws apply to the material you are seeking to obtain and the purpose(s) of your activities. You may do this in a number of ways:

• If the county from which you are seeking materials has a fu ll-fledged system for implementing the CBD, Nagoya Protocol, and/or the ITPGRFA, it will have published lists of contact people who receive enquiries about access to materials in their country. You may seek their advice . Unfortunately, not many countries have made such appointments or publish that information online.
• An alternative is to write to the national focal point for each of the agreements in the country concerned. Updated lists of these focal point s are maintained by the secretariats of the various agreements (for the ITPGRFA, se e http://www.planttreaty.org/nfp; for the CBD and Nagoya Protocol, see https://www.cbd.int/information/nfp.shtml) .
• Alternatively, you may ask the organization or individual f rom whom you are seeking access what rules apply. National public organizations that deal with genetic resources (e.g., national gene banks and national agricultural research organizations) will likely be able to provide advice about the laws that apply, standards to follow, etc. That said, any good lawyer will advise you to seek additional independent sources of information to confirm what you have been told . National organizations may not have the full story, and you must be sure that you are in compliance.
• A complementary course of action requires some research on y our part, but it is important for you to appreciate the ͞rules of the game. Search the Internet, the CB D Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-house (https://absch.cbd.int/ ), and the Food and Agriculture Organizations FAOLEX (http://faolex.fao.org/) for laws that the country may have passed to implement the CBD, Nagoya Proto col, or ITPGRFA. Those laws should provide details about whom to contact for more information. Once you have found the right person to contact, the rules and processes you must follow will be informed by the applicable law. In some cases, because the laws are new and countries may not have a lot of experience implementing them, it is a good idea to try to form your own opinion. Here are some basic rules of thumb:
  • Verify that the country from which you are attempting to access germplasm has ratified the CBD/Nagoya Protocol and the ITPGRFA. Updated lists of contracting parties can be found online: CBD https://www.cbd.int/information/parties.shtml; Nagoya Protocol https://www.cbd.int/abs/nagoya-protocol/signatories/def ault.shtml; ITPGRFA http://www.planttreaty.org/list_of_countries.
  • Confirm that the type of germplasm you want is one of t he 64 crops or forage species included in Annex 1 of the ITPGRFA and compare your purpose for seeking this material with those spelled out in the ITPGRFA (i.e., research, breeding, and training in food and agriculture).
  • If the germplasm you are seeking is listed in Annex 1 and it is in a collection hosted by a national public organization, it is likely available under the multilateral system. If it is not in Annex 1 nor in a national collection, it is likely not in the multilateral system.
  • If the material you are seeking is in the multilateral system of the ITPGRFA, you may receive it under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA; see copies at http://www.planttreaty.org/content/what-smta). Some countries have policies to make non-Annex 1 material availabl e under the SMTA as well. Note: in case of germplasm that is  "under development" as defined in the ITPGRFA, providers are not obliged to provide access. However, if they do provide access, the material must be transferred under the SMTA and the provider may stipulate terms additional t o those included in the SMTA.

  If the country has ratified both the Nagoya Protocol and the ITPGRFA and the materials you seek are not included in the multilateral system , they will be subject to an access and benefit-sharing agreement that satisfies the standards established in the Nagoya Protocol and national laws of the country concerned.

• You must comply with the relevant phytosanitary rules for export/import of germplasm. Such regulations are sometimes defined unilaterally by providers of germplasm, but many providers follow international standards. Standards define what measures must be taken to produce and distribute healthy seeds in a manner that minimizes health risks, such as the spread of pests and diseases from one location to another, and guarantees maximum germination and growth potential. International rules and regulations in this regard have been developed by the International Plant Protection Convention (http://www.ippc.int).

The Nagoya Protocol requires contracting parties to adopt measures together with local and indigenous communities to ensure that access to traditional knowledge is subject to prior informed consent (PIC) , which includes the right of local communities to be involved in decisions about issues that affect them. Communities and farmers must be well informed and involved in a timely process, in which decisions are based on appropriate data and information provided by potential users of the traditional knowledge and resources. The definitions of terms and conditions must also be agreed to by both those who seek access to the traditional knowledge and the communities who hold the knowledge.

Before these mechanisms became part of international law through the Nagoya Protocol, they had already been used in the context of a number of research and development projects, and some countries had incorporated them in to national legislation. However, documentation of experience using PIC and negotiating terms is still scarce.

If using traditional knowledge associated with particular crops and varieties is part of your research, you will have to ensure that you obtain access to such knowledge and that you use it in compliance with national and local rules. Thus, the first step is to find out whether the country or countries where the plant germplasm and the traditional knowledge are found have national, regional, or local laws pertaining to access and use of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. If the source country or countries are party to the Nagoya Protocol, you may contact the national focal point designated to deal with applicants and rely on the guidance provided by this person.

If a national focal point has not been designated or if you cannot communicate with him or her, for whatever reason, it is advisable to take one or all the measures described in section 1 :

• Get in touch with the general focal point for the Nagoya Protocol or the CBD, using the list of national focal points published by the CBD Secretariat
• Ask advice from the organization or individual from whom you would like to get the germplasm, or a legal expert from the country
• Find out about the existence and the content of legislation on the protection of traditional knowledge, by using online databases, such as the CBD ABS Clearing House mechanism, the FAOLEX, and the WIPO Lex (World Intellectual Property Organization).

If permission from local communities is required by nation al law, you may find that the processes and structures established to allow researchers and local communities to negotiate PIC and mutually agreed terms are unclear or non-existent. Again, you might seek the advice of national experts and observe generally accepted good practices in relation to collecting and using germplasm and traditional knowledge.

A number of international codes of conduct have also been developed, such as the FAO code for plant germplasm collecting and transfer, and the International Society of Ethnobiology code of ethics (references below). Bioversity International has also developed guidelines for access and benefit sharing in research projects (reference below).