This project analyzes the results of the meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing, held in Bonn on 22-26 October 2001. The study has been elaborated with the view to informing the German negotiating position for the Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The recommendations made in this study for the German negotiating position are based on an assessment of Germany's interests in access and benefit sharing. Germany's interests are multifaced. Germany is a user of genetic resources – both for industrial and research purposes – as well as a promoter of biodiversity conservation and being highly engaged in development co-operation with provider countries. Germany is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and therefore has a general interest in making the treaty effective. At the same time, however, Germany is also a party to the Agreements of the World Trade Organization, and is therefore bound by the rules established thereunder.