Under Article 13 of the Nagoya Protocol, each Party shall designate one or more competent national authorities (CNAs) on access and benefit-sharing and under Article 14, Parties are required to make information on these CNAs available to the ABS Clearing-House. Competent national authorities shall, in accordance with applicable national legislative, administrative or policy measures (ABS measures), be responsible for granting access or, as applicable, issuing written evidence that access requirements have been met and be responsible for advising on applicable procedures and requirements for obtaining prior informed consent (PIC) and entering into mutually agreed terms (MAT). The information on the competent national authority can help potential users of genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge in identifying who the responsible government entity is for granting access to these resources.
If there is more than one CNA in the country, each CNA should be published as a separate record with their specific responsibilities clearly explained. It is important to keep the contact information up-to-date and the description of responsibilities clear and concise in order to provide potential users with accurate information.
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