The Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing-House (ABS Clearing-House or ABSCH) has been developed as a tool to support the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. It serves as a means for sharing of information related to access and benefit-sharing arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. In particular, it provides access to information made available Parties, as well as other stakeholders, relevant to the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol.

1. Please ensure you are using the latest version of a popular internet browser, such as: 

• For Firefox: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
• For Chrome: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/ei
• For Internet Explorer (9+): http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/internet-explorer/download-ie

2. To be able to submit reference records, you will need a CBD Account. Opening an account only takes a few minutes and requires a valid email address.

3. To publish national records, in addition to a CBD Account, you will also need the appropriate role (Publishing Authority or Authorized User) to access and publish information on behalf of your government.

Help using the ABS Clearing-House is always available. The Secretariat is happy to help if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any questions or feedback on using the ABS Clearing-House. To contact  the Secretariat, please  e-mail us at absch@cbd.int or use the live chat help desk.  The live chat help desk can be accessed by clicking on the green question mark located in the bottom right corner of the page for immediate interaction with Secretariat staff for technical support and guidance.

Model Contractual Clauses - Model contractual clauses are addressed in Article 19 of the Protocol. They can assist in the development of agreements that are consistent with ABS requirements and may reduce transaction costs while promoting legal certainty and transparency.

Codes of Conduct, Guidelines, Best Practices and/or Standards - Codes of Conduct, Guidelines, Best Practices and/or Standards are addressed in Article 20 of the Protocol. They may assist users to undertake their activities in a manner that is consistent with ABS requirements while also taking into account the practices of different sectors.

Please note if the information you are providing is on behalf of your national Government please submit the information under the appropriate national record format. 

To sign in, click the “SIGN IN” link located at the very the top right corner of the page, and enter your email and password.  If you have forgotten your password please click the following link to reset it: accounts.cbd.int/password/reset. If you don’t have a CBD account, you can create one at: accounts.cbd.int/signup

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Once you have signed in, click on “Submit” in the main navigation bar and you will be taken to your Record Management Centre Dashboard. 

Dashboard

The Dashboard provides an overview of the shared national records for your country. Click on the name of the type of record you would like to edit or add to the ABS Clearing-House. 

Open a submission form

Next, click the "Add New" button or click on the "Edit" icon associated to the record you would like to update to open the submission form.

Submission form controls

Please fill in the submission form and complete all fields. Mandatory fields are indicated with an asterisk(*). The highlighted button shows you what step of the submission process you are currently on.  Clicking on the "Introduction" tab will give you important information on how to complete the form. Clicking on the "Review" tab will allow you to preview the record and highlight the mandatory fields that need to be filled before it is possible to publish the record. The record can be saved as a draft at any time. Frequently saving of records is recommended.

Submission language(s)

It is possible to introduce information one or more of the six official UN languages. The first question on each submission form asks you to select the languages you wish to submit the record in (at least one language needs to be selected). 

Website language

If you wish to view to the submission form in another language, you may change the language of the website by selecting one of the UN languages from the drop down menu located at the very top right hand corner of the screen. 

The key sections of the Publishing Model Contractual Clauses, Codes of Conduct, Guidelines, Best Practices and Standards (A19A20) form are General information, Attachment of the files, documents, or resources, Information on the content of attachments and Keywords for facilitating online searches.

General Information

Please enter all mandatory information including the title, the type of resource, the author (you can specify if it is an individual or an organization), and the publication year. This information will help make the resource easily accessible when searching on the ABS Clearing-House.

Attached files, documents or resources

Under the second section, please use the “Add file” button to attach the file containing the model contractual clauses, code of conduct, guidelines, best practice or standard to the record. The file will then be stored in the ABSCH for Publishing Model Contractual Clauses, Codes of Conduct, Guidelines, Best Practices and/or Standards (Art.19/20) users to download. You can also add a link to a web page where the model contractual clauses, code of conduct, guidelines, best practice or standard can be found. It is preferable to attach the relevant file to the record to avoid problems with broken links as web pages change and are re-designed.

Information on the content of attachments

In the third part of the submission form, please provide a concise summary or abstract of not more than 300 words. 

If the resource being registered relates or applies to a particular country or region, select the relevant country(ies) or region(s) from the drop down menu. 

In addition to contributing to Aichi Target 16 on the Nagoya Protocol, some Articles 19 and 20 resources can also contribute to other Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Please, select which Aichi Biodiversity Target(s) are related to the resource.

Keywords for facilitating online searches

In the fourth part of the submission form, you can select the keywords that help to identify the main components and content of the resource. For example, selecting the types of genetic resources or sectors covered by the document, or whether it covers access, benefit-sharing, or compliance. This helps users of the ABS Clearing-House to easily find the document among other ABSCH records when doing searches according to different keywords.

The final part of the submission is “Additional Information” and “Notes”. Please include any other relevant information in these sections.

Once you have completed all the fields, click on the “Review” tab to check that all the mandatory fields have been properly filled. On this tab a message will highlight any missing fields that need to be filled before it is possible to publish the record. You may click on the missing field to go to that field in the submission form.

When all the mandatory fields have been filled correctly, the message “the document is valid” will appear.  You are almost done! The next and final step is to publish the record.

To publish a record, click on the "Publish" tab. If you record contains any errors you will be redirected back to the Review tab until the errors are correct.  Please note that you can save the record as a draft at any time. 

If you are the Publishing Authority, you see the green “Publish”  button and will be able to publish the record directly on the ABS Clearing-House.

If you are a National Authorized User, you will see the red “Request Publication” button.  Clicking this button will automatically send a request to the Publishing Authority to verify and approve your submission before it will become publicly available on the ABS Clearing-House.