The first session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR) has adopted a standard Material Transfer Agreement.

The session, which was held from 12 to 16 June 2006, in Madrid, Spain, focused on a number of issues necessary for the operationalization of the Treaty. Most issues were successfully concluded, including the adoption of a standard Material Transfer Agreement, the core instrument for implementing the Treaty’s multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing, and the funding strategy. The standard Material Transfer Agreement includes provisions on a fixed percentage of 1.1% that a recipient shall pay when a product is commercialized yet not available without restriction to others for further research and breeding; and 0.5% for an alternative payments scheme.
The Governing Body further adopted: the rules of procedure, including decision making by consensus; financial rules with bracketed text on an indicative scale of voluntary contributions; a resolution establishing a compliance committee; the relationship agreement with the Global Crop Diversity Trust; a model agreement with the International Agricultural Research Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and other international institutions; and the budget and work programme for 2006-2007.

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