With regard to the negotiations for an international regime on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the group of technical and legal experts on compliance met from 27-30 January 2009, in Tokyo, Japan.

The group considered public and private international law measures to: facilitate access to justice and access to courts by foreign plaintiffs; support mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments across jurisdictions; and provide remedies and sanctions in civil, commercial and criminal matters, to ensure compliance with national access and benefit-sharing legislation and requirements. The group also addressed: voluntary measures available to enhance compliance of users of foreign genetic resources; an internationally agreed definition of misappropriation and misuse of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and whether it could support compliance; compliance measures that take account of the customary law of indigenous and local communities; and compliance measures for research with non-commercial intent.
Link to further information
The meeting website