ABSTRACT
Many scholars agree that prior informed consent (PIC) is the key issue in Article 15 of the CBD (Firestone, 2003, p25; Hendrickx et al, 1993, p252). In the Brazilian legal system PIC is required for the authorization of access to associated TK. According to Article 7, II, of Medida Provisória (MP) 2186-16/2001, TK associated to GRs is information or practice – individual or collective – of the indigenous or local community, with real or potential value, associated to genetic heritage. New laws and recent case law in Brazil have turned PIC into a binding regulatory requirement. PIC is not a summary declaration, but a whole procedure with several meetings and discussions. Only then will it be possible to guarantee the self-determination of traditional peoples and the identification in advance of the holders of knowledge and the representatives of a traditional community, according to its own form of social organization, as well as the determination of the geographic origin of the knowledge and the state of the knowledge at the moment of access. Therefore, the PIC procedure consists of a legal link or a bridge between indigenous law and the law of the surrounding society, holding together the overall legal system in a sufficiently flexible and effective manner.
