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.