Permitting

Statement of Purpose

This page is for information on permitting in relation to both collecting, importing and exporting natural history collections.

Contributors

Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting - 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the following individuals participating in the "Field to Database" Group of the aforementioned workshop: Breda Zimkus, Cesar Aguilar, Ben Frable, Meredith Mahoney, Zachary Randall, and David Wernecke

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Approval of Field Practices

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) ensure that all projects involving the use of live vertebrae animals comply with federal regulations and guidelines. An institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) is required by federal regulations for most institutions that use animals in research, teaching, and testing. The IACUC has a key oversight role, including the review and approval of animal use activities, and inspection of animal facilities.

Federal regulations and guidelines dealing with animal welfare focus mainly on biomedical and behavioral research, teaching, and testing that takes place in the laboratory. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations exempt field study ("any study done on free-living wild animals in their natural habitat, which does not involve an invasive procedure, and which does not harm or materially alter the behavior of the animals") from IACUC review. However, if the animals are confined, an invasive procedure is involved, or the behavior of the animal is harmed or materially altered, then the study must comply with federal regulations and standards. Since field studies often cannot satisfy the USDA definition, and the IACUC is also answerable to Public Health Service (PHS) Guidelines, researchers should have protocols reviewed by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) before specimens are collected. In addition, some funding agencies may require proposed projects involving use of any vertebrate animal for research or education be approved by the submitting organization's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) before an award can be made.

IACUC review of such studies would be necessary and would focus on, but not necessarily be restricted to, such issues as:

1. Number of animals to be used in the study, and the stability of the population from which the animals are to be taken
2. The appropriateness of the methods used for capturing, immobilizing, and euthanizing the animals
3. The training and supervision of the personnel involved with the study

http://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/ncstate/iacuc.htm

ABS/Nagoya

Many countries have national legislation and regulations particularly with regard to Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS). These may require that users or collectors of biological material:

1. Obtain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regarding their proposed utilization of the genetic resources within the material from the appropriate national and/or international bodies (e.g., indigenous and local communities). This sets out an agreement regarding what will happen to the material after collection., and
2. Decide upon Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT) regarding sharing the monetary and/or non-monetary benefits arising from that utilization. Such agreements may be part of a Permit or Material Transfer Agreement, or covered by a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC). Several agreements may cover a single sample. Often little or no distinction is drawn between the genetic resources (i.e., functional units of heredity) and the biological resources (i.e., specimens) containing them.

The Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House (ABSCH) is a web-based platform for information exchange associated with the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. This website should be the first and most relevant point of information when institutions or researchers plan to access specimens or genetic resources or want to look up any country specific information.

Data provided in the country profiles is exclusively provided by the CNAs of the respective Parties and ideally include the following information:

• Checkpoints (i.e., national authorities and contacts associated with ABS)
• Competent National Authorities (CNAs; designated bodies responsible for granting access or issuing evidence that access requirements have been met)
• Contact information for National Focal Points (NFPs; designated body responsible for providing information on national legislation, rules, and procedures for access to genetic resources and ATK, and relevant authorities and stakeholders)
• Relevant legislative, administrative, and policy measures (e.g., act, decree, guidelines, regulations, rules associated with ABS)
• National websites or databases (e.g., guidance for foreign users seeking access to genetic resources, national Clearing-House mechanisms)
• Internationally Recognized Certificates of Compliance (IRCC; generated by the ABSCH when provider countries submit an permit or equivalent that they have issued for access)
  

For additional information, see Access and Benefit-Sharing (Nagoya Protocol and the CBD).

Collection Permits

Federal Permit

MOU with local collaborators (e.g., university, researcher) may be required before federal permit is issued

Regional, State, Local Permits

(including Indigenous Lands and People, Landowner’s permission to collect, signed landowner permission may be required for some permits) [also, some private/indigenous groups stipulate protection of locality information in public databases, this should be noted in Cataloging section of wiki]

Digital/Media Permissions

e.g., photo, video, sound

Protected Area Permit

e.g., National Park

Protected Species Permits

e.g., Threatened and Endangered)- includes collection and exportation?

Genetic Resource Permit

Permission to Take OR Permission to Export

Exportation Declaration

(link to U.S. 3-177 page) Export documents may require information on final deposition of specimens

Importation Declaration

(link to U.S. 3-177 page)

CITES

(link to CITES page)