Legislation Tracker
Which countries are taking measures that encourage companies to contribute to the Cali Fund?
The international agreement establishing the Cali Fund invites countries to "take administrative, policy or legislative measures" that incentivise contributions to the Cali Fund.
0
countries with legislation encouraging Cali Fund contributions
0
countries where such legislation is under discussion
India
- Friends of the Cali Fund Member: no
- CBD Party
- Nagoya Party
- BBNJ Agreement Signatory
- No Legislation or administrative measure proposed yet (reached)
- Legislation or administrative measure proposed
- Legislation introduced
- Legislation passed into law
- Legislation or administrative measure in effect
Overview
India has not yet introduced any Cali Fund-specific legislation. However, its pre-existing Nagoya-implementing ABS regime has been extended to explicitly include DSI.
Proposed legislation / administrative measure
India’s 2025 ABS Regulations address DSI through the existing national ABS framework, but do not establish a dedicated mechanism for fulfilling, facilitating, or incentivising contributions to the Cali Fund. No additional legislation or administrative measures specific to the multilateral mechanism have been proposed.
Key developments
- 2023 amendment to the Biological Diversity Act eased domestic access procedures
- Biological Diversity Rules, 2024 (Rule 16) require National Biodiversity Authority approval before any entity secures IP over inventions using DSI accessed from India
- 2025 ABS Regulations formalised DSI coverage under the national regime.
- India's delegation engaged on Cali Fund governance and allocation modalities at SBI-6 (Rome, Feb 2026) and SBSTTA-28/SBI-7 (Nairobi, Jul-Aug 2026) to reiterate that the mechanism must preserve the sovereign rights of Parties and the integrity of national ABS frameworks.
Statements
4 August 2026, SBI-7 plenary - India and Bahrain said the Mechanism must preserve Parties' sovereign rights and the integrity of national ABS frameworks (ENB).
November 2024, COP16 closing plenary - India proposed amendments adding explicit reference to national ABS measures on genetic resources and DSI, 'welcoming' rather than 'adopting' the modalities, and 'shall' rather than 'should' for benefit-sharing by users; its late intervention made the mechanism 'without prejudice to national legislations' (ENB; TWN).
ABS legislation
- Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023)
India operates a provider-country ABS regime administered by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), with implementation supported by State Biodiversity Boards and local Biodiversity Management Committees. The 2023 amendment and subsequent implementing framework introduced measures to facilitate domestic access to biological resources, including exemptions for specified AYUSH-related activities, streamlined access and approval procedures, and provisions addressing traditional medicine users. The revised framework also provides mechanisms for regularising certain instances of past non-compliance.
Regulatory context
Access to biological resources and associated knowledge for research, commercial use or bio-survey requires prior approval from the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), or prior intimation to State Biodiversity Boards for certain Indian entities, with benefit-sharing determined under the 2025 ABS Regulations. Under Rule 16 of the Biological Diversity Rules, 2024, NBA approval is needed before intellectual property is secured over inventions using DSI accessed from India, making DSI part of the national compliance regime rather than leaving it to the Cali Fund.