ABSTRACT
In some countries, significant powers over natural resources are vested in states or provinces, and national legislation may be limited to creating or amending one or more framework laws, promoting harmonization and coordination, and providing follow-up assistance to provincial or state governments in developing their own, more detailed, rules. Since regulating access to genetic resources is a new area of law and policy that is generally not envisioned or mentioned in constitutional provisions allocating powers between federal and state or provincial governments, clarifying the constitutional legal status of genetic resources is a crucial first step in countries with federal systems.
