Prior to the coming into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993, access to and use of genetic resources and related traditional knowledge in a particular country were subject primarily to the national regime in that country.  

The CBD expressly recognized the efficacy of these national regimes by providing that “[s]tates have the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies" (CBD Art 3).  Also, the Convention declared as an objective, to promote the “fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources" (CBD Art 1). To meet this objective, the CBD created expectations and imposed obligations which parties were expected to fulfill in national frameworks on access and benefit sharing.  

In the intervening decade, however, relatively few states have implemented national frameworks for access and benefit sharing. To accelerate implementation of CBD access and benefit sharing provisions, the parties to the CBD adopted the “Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising out of their Utilization" in 2002. At its meeting in Bonn, in May 2008, the Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP 9) agreed on a basis for negotiating an international regime for access and benefit-sharing which has to be completed by COP 10 in Japan in mid-2010. ICC is coordinating the business input in the ABS negotiations through the ICC Task Force on the CBD. 

Discussions on the protection of traditional knowledge and access and benefit sharing in relation to genetic resources are also taking place in other international fora, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Trade Organization in the context of TRIPS.