MOSAICC
Micro-Organisms Sustainable use and Access regulation International Code of Conduct

Contents


Introduction

The BCCM, having experienced the improvement of their capacity of conservation, handling and study of microbial resources through collaborative efforts and managerial co-ordination at consortium level, strongly believe that also at world level there is no future for culture collections without equitable and fair networking.

For the BCCM, co-operation at regional and world levels also means involvement, as a consortium but also as individual collections, in international organisations such as the European Culture Collections' Organisation (ECCO), the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) and the UNESCO Microbial Resources Centres Network (MIRCEN). It also means active participation in projects that facilitate global communication and co-operation between collections.

Therefore, the BCCM launched the concerted action MOSAICC with the support of the Directorate General XII for Science, Research and Development of the European Commission.

MOSAICC stands for «Micro-Organisms Sustainable use and Access regulation International Code of Conduct ». This project started in September '97 for a duration of 21 months. The MOSAICC project involved twelve partners, including representatives from North and South, as well as representatives from the not-for-profit-sector as from the commercial sector :

  1. OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (France)
    Biotechnology Unit, Directorate of Science, Technology and Industry

  2. IUCN - World Conservation Union, Environmental Law Centre (Germany)

  3. The Royal Botanic Gardens KEW, Herbarium, Conventions and Policy Section (UK)

  4. Novo Nordisk A/S, Department of External Relations (Denmark)

  5. IMI - International Mycological Institute, Department of Mycology (UK)

  6. WFCC - World Federation for Culture Collections, WFCC - Biodiversity Committee (UK)

  7. IPM - Industrial Platform for Microbiology (Belgium)

  8. CCT- Fundacao Tropical Andre Tosello, Colecao de Culturas Tropical (Brazil)

  9. INBio - Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Department of Bioprospection (Costa Rica)

  10. UICC - Universitas Indonesia Culture Collection, Laboratory of Microbiology (Indonesia)

  11. ARC - Agricultural Research Council, Plant Protection Research Institute (Republic of South-Africa) and

  12. BCCM - Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms as co-ordinator (Belgium)

MOSAICC is a voluntary Code of Conduct, a tool to support the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, Rio de Janeiro 5 June 1992) at the microbial level, in accordance with other relevant rules of international and national laws.

Access to microbial genetic resources (MGRs) is a prerequisite for the advancement of microbiology. Furthermore, monitoring the transfer of MGRs is necessary to identify the individuals or groups that are entitled to be scientifically or financially rewarded for their contribution to the conservation and sustainable use of the MGRs. MOSAICC combines the need for easy transfer of MGRs and the need to monitor the transfer of MGRs.

The MOSAICC Code of Conduct now available on this website is the result of five successive drafts improved through dialogue between MOSAICC partners and other experts invited to comment on the contents of MOSAICC.

 

MOSAICC Code of Conduct & Summary

 

MOSAICC Brochure


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Last update: 24 October 2001
Contact : F. Guissart