A view of the OWG-EFMLS-8 drafting session

At its ninth meeting, the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA or Treaty) is expected to:

• continue revising the standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA);
• address issues related to digital sequence information (DSI);
• explore supportive measures to facilitate the implementation of a possible expansion of the coverage of the MLS; and
• continue exploring a growth plan to attain the enhanced MLS.

Negotiations on the revision of the SMTA will continue on the basis of the draft resulting from the Working Group’s eighth meeting (October 2018). Discussions will also address views submitted on matters related to DSI. The deliberations will be further informed by a number of consultations and events organized by Co-Chairs Amb. Hans Hoogeveen (Netherlands) and Javad Mozafari (Iran) to support the process to enhance the functioning of the MLS. The outcomes of negotiations will be forwarded to the eighth session of the Treaty's Governing Body (GB 8), to be held from 11-16 November 2019 in Rome, Italy.

The Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the MLS was first established by GB 5 (September 2013, Muscat, Oman), with the mandate to develop measures to increase user-based payments and contributions to the Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund, as a priority, as well as additional measures to enhance the functioning of the MLS. It is composed of up to 27 regional representatives: up to five each from Europe, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean; up to three from the Near East; and up to two each from North America and Southwest Pacific. Up to two representatives from each of the following groups may participate as observers: civil society organizations; the seed industry; farmers’ organizations; and the CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers.

Since its establishment, the Working Group has focused on the revision of the SMTA and elaboration of a subscription system for user-based payments to the MLS. Its mandate was extended by GB 7 (30 October - 3 November 2017, Kigali, Rwanda). At its eighth meeting (October 2018), the Working Group continued its work on revising the SMTA, and acknowledged divergent views on DSI and on a possible expansion of the coverage of the MLS.

The ninth meeting of the Working Group will be held from 17-21 June 2019, at the FAO headquarters in Rome.