Paragraph 1(c) of the modalities of operation of the ABS Clearing-House (decision NP-1/2, annex) provides that the Secretariat shall design the ABS Clearing-House to be interoperable and facilitate the exchange of information with other databases and systems, in particular Parties’ databases, as well as databases of other instruments and organizations.

With this aim, the Secretariat has developed an application programming interface (API). The API is the main tool to facilitate interoperability and the exchange of information with other IT systems or databases, in particular the IT systems of Parties, as well as, of other instruments and organizations. The API provides a standard interface described by a set of standard protocols to facilitate interaction with computer systems. The API is meant to allow the seamless integration of the data and functions of the ABS Clearing-House into other systems in ways that best fit their own needs, workflows and technologies.

Parties and others can make use of the API to avoid duplication in the submission of information to the ABS Clearing-House and, at the same time, create national or regional information systems that are fully compatible with the ABS Clearing-House. This may be particularly useful for domestic information systems containing information on permits or their equivalent or information collected or received to implement Article 17 of the Protocol.

Documentation for developers on the use of the API is available at: scbd.github.io.

Examples and sample code is available at: github.com/scbd/api-examples.

Please note the development of the API documentation, examples, and sample code is an on-going effort and is updated regularly.

For more information on how to use the API please contact the Secretariat at: absch@cbd.int.

Developing a national ABS Clearing-House is not a requirement of the Protocol. However, if a country decides to build a national ABS Clearing-House, please keep in mind:

• The ABS Clearing-House is designed to be interoperable with other databases and systems, in particular Parties’ databases, as well as databases of other instruments and organizations.
• The application programming interface (API), is the main mechanism to implement interoperability,  and is meant to allow the seamless integration of the data and functions of the ABS Clearing-House into other systems in ways that best fit their own needs, workflows and technologies.
• The API can be used to help avoid duplication in the submission of information to the ABS Clearing-House and, at the same time, create national or regional information systems that are fully compatible and streamlined with the ABS Clearing-House and obligation of the Protocol.