MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

Other relevant issues

Ethical and legal considerations
The cultivation, collection and harvesting of medicinal plants, as well as the post-harvest processing of medicinal plant materials, must be carried out in accordance with legal and environmental requirements and with the ethical codes or norms of the community and country in which the activities take place. The provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity must be respected.
Intellectual property rights and benefits-sharing
Agreements on the return of immediate and/or long-term benefits and compensation for the use of source medicinal plant materials must be discussed and concluded, in writing, prior to collection or cultivation. Contract cultivation of medicinal plants from propagation materials obtained from indigenous medicinal plants of a given country may carry varying degrees of property rights. The issue of rights of access to genetic resources is more complex, especially if the propagation materials have a long history as an item of international commerce, and are not indigenous to a given country.

Threatened and endangered species
Medicinal plants that are protected by national and international laws, such as those listed in national “red” lists, may be collected only by relevant permission according to national and/or international laws. The provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) must be complied with. Endangered medicinal plant species must be sourced only in accordance with national and/or regional legislation. When medicinal plant materials from threatened, endangered or protected medicinal plant species are obtained through cultivation, they should be accompanied by appropriate documentation in accordance with national and/or regional regulations, to certify that no such medicinal plant materials collected from the wild are included.