BBNJ: Understand whether your activity counts as utilisation
Find out whether your activity counts as utilisation under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 and whether utilisation requirements may apply to you.
Before you start
You may find it useful to read:
You can also return to the wider BBNJ guidance collection:
Understand what utilisation means
When an individual or company in the UK utilises marine genetic resources (MGR) of areas beyond national jurisdiction collected after 9 August 2026, or digital sequence information (DSI) on those MGR, they will need to provide utilisation information to the UK BBNJ Focal Point.
Under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026, utilisation means:
- using marine MGR or DSI on those MGR when carrying out relevant research and development
- the commercialisation of relevant research and development carried out using MGR or DSI on those MGR
Understand relevant research and development
Relevant research and development means research and development on the genetic and/or biochemical composition of MGR or DSI on those MGR, including through the application of biotechnology.
Biotechnology means any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives of biological systems or organisms to make or modify products or processes for a specific use.
Research and development includes both research, i.e. the focus on the discovery or examination of specific genetic and/or biochemical traits, and research and development which leads to the development of a product.
It includes both non-commercial research and commercial activities.
Understand commercialisation
Commercialisation means to make available a relevant product in the course of a commercial activity, other than for the purpose of trialling the effectiveness of the product.
This definition aligns the approach under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 with the definition of “placing on the UK market” from the Guidance on UK Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations used for the UK’s implementation of the Nagoya Protocol.
A relevant product is a product developed through, or as a result of, relevant research and development.
Check whether your activity counts as utilisation
The Guidance on the UK Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations sets out some principles when considering whether an activity should be considered utilisation. Those principles can also be applied to utilisation under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026.
- research which leads to the discovery of specific genetic and/or biochemical properties is utilisation
- the creation of new insight into the characteristics of the genetic resource which is of (potential or real) benefit to the further process of product development is utilisation
The Guidance on the UK Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations also sets out examples of activities which are not considered as utilisation. These examples can also be applied to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026:
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supply and processing of relevant raw materials for subsequent incorporation in a product where the properties of the biochemical compound contained in the genetic resource are already known and therefore no research and development is carried out
- MGR or DSI as testing/reference tools: at that stage the MGR or DSI is not the object of the research in itself but only serves to confirm or verify the desired features of other products developed or under development. This may include laboratory reference material (including reference strains), reagents and samples of proficiency tests or pathogens used for testing the resistance of plant varieties
- handling and storing of biological material and describing its phenotype
- the application of biotechnology in a way which does not make the MGR or DSI in question the object of research and development
Understand taxonomy
Whether taxonomy counts as utilisation will depend upon the technique used.
Identifying species or animals by video or photography does not meet the definition of utilisation.
Other techniques, including those that involve generating DSI on MGR, count as utilisation under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026.
This is a different approach to that taken under the UK Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations because the regime under the BBNJ Agreement is a multilateral regime for MGR of areas beyond national jurisdiction and has differences to the Nagoya Protocol.
Check whether utilisation requirements apply to your project
The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 applies to a utilisation project.
A utilisation project is a project involving utilisation in the UK of:
- MGR of areas beyond national jurisdiction
- DSI on those MGR
Check who must provide information
The person who controls the utilisation project must ensure that the necessary information is provided to the UK BBNJ Focal Point.
The Act refers to this individual as the relevant person.
The relevant person may be:
- the senior researcher responsible for an academic project
- a compliance officer within a commercial organisation
- another individual identified by the project or organisation as responsible for meeting the utilisation requirements
Only one relevant person should be identified for each utilisation project.
Working on multinational projects
Marine scientific research increasingly involves multinational research teams. Enhancing multinational collaboration in marine scientific research, and in particular the participation of institutions and individuals from developing States, is an important part of delivering the objectives of Part II of the BBNJ Agreement.
With multiple research groups working across different countries, it is important to identify when the obligations in the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 apply.
The obligations in the Act apply to utilisation in the UK.
If the utilisation takes place in the UK, the relevant person should provide the required information to the UK BBNJ Focal Point.
For example, if a research team at a UK institution working as part of a broader international project undertakes research and development on an MGR at that UK institution that leads to a publication outside the UK, the relevant person should submit the required information about that publication to the UK BBNJ Focal Point. This is the case even if the publication is published in a country that is not a party to the BBNJ Agreement. The relevant person in that example would be the researcher leading the UK team.
If a utilisation project involving MGR or DSI on an MGR is undertaken jointly at a UK institution and an institution in another country, and this leads to a publication either in or outside the UK, the relevant person should submit the required information about that publication to the UK BBNJ Focal Point.
It is important for the integrity of the BBNJ system that only one set of information is submitted to the BBNJ Clearing-House Mechanism in respect of each result achieved by a utilisation project. In the example above there is a risk that information could be submitted under the legislation of both countries.
The relevant person can contact the UK BBNJ Focal Point during the planning phase or at any time during the project to discuss these issues.
The UK BBNJ Focal Point would like to be informed of situations in which utilisation projects face overlapping obligations from different jurisdictions to help support both the individual project and the development of the international and UK systems.
You can contact the UK BBNJ Focal Point at bbnjfocalpoint@fcdo.gov.uk .
Next steps
If your activity counts as utilisation, read the guidance that applies to your project:
- Report information for a marine genetic resource utilisation project
- Report information for a digital sequence information utilisation project
You may also find it useful to read: