Legislation Tracker

Japan has not introduced any legislation or administrative measure specifically addressing contributions to the Cali Fund. Its existing 2017 ABS Guidelines are administrative in nature rather than statutory and do not address DSI or contributions to the Cali Fund. However, current domestic policy discussions concerning ABS and related measures are being shaped, in part, by industry engagement and lobbying.

The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) has published a position paper outlining recommendations for the Japanese Government to facilitate and incentivise contributions to the Cali Fund. However, there has been no official confirmation that the government is considering or intends to implement these proposals. The recommendations include:

- Establish a high-level, cross-ministerial coordinating mechanism involving the Ministries responsible for agriculture, health and labour, foreign affairs, environment, and economy.

- Recognise Cali Fund contributions as tax-deductible designated donations.

- Establish a corporate recognition or logo scheme for companies making contributions.

- Calculate contributions based on profits attributable to DSI-related business activities, rather than total corporate revenue, with exemptions for DSI-related activities that are not profitable.

- Permit companies to report their contributions on a self-declared basis.

14 July 2025: Japan was provided to one of three Asia-Pacific seats on the Cali Fund Steering Committee through 2025-2026

18 March 2025: Position Paper on the COP16 Decision on a Mechanism for Benefit-Sharing from the use of Digital Sequence Information on genetic resources published by KEIDANREN (Japan Business Federation)

Committee on Bioeconomy

Keidanren Nature Conservation Counci

12 August 2026, SBI-7 - Japan took note of the African Group's concerns on the Cali Fund MoU, but questioned whether recording them could suggest fundamental governance problems and divert attention from operationalisation (ENB).

19 March 2025, submission to the CBD (notification 2024-114) - Japan said the mechanism's implementation should be prioritised, that considering additional modalities before COP17 is too early, and that taking products and services into account would raise track-and-trace problems already judged 'not practical' in Decision 15/9.

Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS Guidelines), issued jointly by six ministries and in force since 18 August 2017 to implement the Nagoya Protocol. The Guidelines are administrative rather than statutory, do not regulate access to Japan's own genetic resources and do not address DSI.

Japan operates a light-touch user-country regime: users who import genetic resources accessed under an internationally recognised certificate of compliance report to the Ministry of the Environment, with sectoral ministries responsible for their sectors, and there is no permit requirement for access to Japanese genetic resources. Industry, led by Keidanren, has called for tax-deductibility of Cali Fund contributions, a corporate recognition scheme and profit-based contribution rules, but the government has not adopted these proposals.