Legislation – Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026

This section applies in relation to a project (a “collection project”) in which a UK craft is used to collect marine genetic resources in an area beyond national jurisdiction.

(2)

The relevant person in relation to the collection project must ensure that no marine genetic resources are collected for the purposes of the project unless—

(a)

the information described in paragraphs (a) to (j) of Article 12(2) of the Agreement (pre-collection information) has been given to the Secretary of State, and

(b)

subject to subsection (3), a period of at least 7 months has passed, beginning with the day (or the last day) on which that information was given to the Secretary of State.

(3)

The Secretary of State may, by notice in writing given to the relevant person, reduce the period mentioned in subsection (2)(b) where the Secretary of State considers that there is a compelling reason for marine genetic resources to be collected as part of the project despite less than 7 months having passed since the information was given to the Secretary of State.

(4)

The relevant person must ensure that the information described in paragraphs (a) to (d) of Article 12(5) of the Agreement (post-collection information) is given to the Secretary of State—

(a)

as soon as it is all available, and

(b)

in any case, before the end of the period of 11 months beginning with the last day on which marine genetic resources are collected in an area beyond national jurisdiction as part of the project.

(5)

In this section—

“collect”, in relation to marine genetic resources, means collecting or sampling such resources other than incidentally when carrying out an activity for another purpose;

“the relevant person”, in relation to a collection project, is the individual with principal responsibility for the scientific or technical aspects of the project so far as it concerns marine genetic resources.