Salient Features, Aims and Objectives of the Biological Diversity Act 2002 — Intellectual Property Rights II Notes

Salient Features, Aims and Objectives of the Biological Diversity Act 2002

After the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, India signed the Convention on Biological Diversity and promised to protect its genetic wealth and share its benefits. It took a decade of drafting, but in 2002 Parliament delivered the Biological Diversity Act — India’s domestic answer to the CBD, and the statute that finally gave communities a legal stake in resources they had guarded for generations.

Aims, objectives and features

The BD Act 2002 is the implementing legislation for the CBD 1992 (topic Unit 5). Its three objectives, taken straight from the CBD, are:

• Conservation of biological diversity.
• Sustainable use of its components.
• Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of biological resources and associated knowledge (ABS).

A. The salient features

• Regulates access — foreigners and foreign entities need prior approval of the NBA (s.3); Indians must give prior intimation to the SBB for commercial use (s.7).
• Three-tier institutional structure — NBA at the national level (s.8), SBB in each State (s.22), BMC at each local body (s.41).
• Benefit-sharing mechanism — the NBA determines equitable benefit-sharing (s.21) and monies flow into biodiversity funds.
• Patent-linkage (s.6) — no one may seek any IP right (patent) based on an Indian biological resource without prior NBA approval.
• Protection of traditional knowledge and the interests of local communities and “benefit claimers”.
• Conservation tools — biodiversity heritage sites (s.37), threatened species (s.38), and National/State/Local Biodiversity Funds (ss.27, 32, 43).

Section 1 / Preamble: an Act “to provide for conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources, knowledge and for matters connected therewith.”

In Simple Terms: The Act does three jobs at once — conserve biodiversity, use it sustainably, and make sure the benefits are shared fairly. It runs on a three-tier authority and a gate-keeping rule: no foreign access, and no patent on Indian bio-resources, without NBA approval.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — structuring a “features” answer

Facts. A 16-mark question asks for the aims and salient features of the Act.

Rule. The Act mirrors the CBD’s three objectives and adds an institutional and ABS machinery.

Apply. Open with the three objectives (conservation, sustainable use, ABS), then list the features (three-tier structure, s.3 access, s.6 patent-linkage, s.21 benefit-sharing, funds, TK protection).

Conclusion. Objectives → features → link to the CBD is the frame that scores full marks.

flowchart TD
    ROOT["BD Act 2002"]:::root
    ROOT --> O["Objectives: conserve + sustainable use + ABS"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> S["Three-tier: NBA (s.8) / SBB (s.22) / BMC (s.41)"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> A["Access control: s.3 foreigners, s.7 Indians"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> P["Patent-linkage: s.6 prior NBA approval"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> B["Benefit-sharing: s.21 + biodiversity funds"]:::leaf
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

• Divya Pharmacy v Union of India (2018) — affirmed the objectives; benefit-sharing applies to Indian companies too.

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