BRAZILIAN BIODIVERSITY CORNERSTONE Since May 20, 2015

BRAZILIAN BIODIVERSITY CORNERSTONE
Since May 20, 2015, Brazil has a new law that deals with access and use of the Brazilian
genetic assets and traditional knowledge, known as Biodiversity Legal Cornerstone (Law
no. 13,123 of May 20, 2015). The bill approved by Brazilian Congress and sanctioned by
the President was acclaimed by entities representing the traditional communities, as well
as by the industry, because it clarifies the limits for researches and uses of plant and
animal genetic material and traditional knowledge. The law also governs financial and nonfinancial compensations to and division of benefits between traditional communities whose
knowledge and genetic resources will be used by third parties. Local manufacturers of
products that use resources protected by the said law will be directly responsible to
provide such compensations. In case of products or processes used by companies
headquartered abroad, their local distributors or subsidiaries will bear such
compensations. Concerning Intellectual Property rights, the law brings significant changes
in relation to the protection of “creole seeds”, defined as seeds whose genetic
improvement was introduced in a traditional manner through the intervention of traditional
communities. The law also establishes that Intellectual Property rights for processes or
products that use any of the resources protected by it will only be obtained if a specific
governmental authorization is given. The law is now awaiting for regulation that will
dispose how it will be duly applied by the concerned governmental bodies.
Elias Marcos Guerra
Cloris Maria Pereira Guerra
Adriana Zaidan
Alberto J. Guerra Neto
Cristina Guerra
Darian Waihrich Prates
Diego Vieira
Flavio Leonardos
Gabriele Sarmento
Jimmy Oliveira
Marcia Gil
Patrícia Lusoli
Rafael Pinho
Ricardo Pinho
Rodrigo Ferreira
Rosane Tavares
Rosélia Corrêa
Porto Alegre – [email protected]
Rio de Janeiro – [email protected]
Rua São Carlos, 1113 - 90220-121 - Porto Alegre – RS - Brasil
Tel: +55 51 3323.9999 / Fax: +55 51 3323.9998
Rua da Quitanda, 19 - 1105/1107 - 20011-030 Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil
Tel: +55 21 2221.4887 / Fax: +55 21 3177.1346
www.guerraip.com