Benefit sharing is the action of giving a portion of advantages/profits derived from the use of genetic resources or traditional knowledge to resource providers. This definition is broad enough to encompass human and non-human genetic resources, although benefit sharing for human genetic resources is not an international legal requirement.
Full Answer
What is profit sharing and how does it work?
Key Takeaways
- A profit-sharing plan is similar to a 401 (k) plan but more flexible for the employer.
- A business does not have to make contributions to the plan in years that it’s not profitable.
- Employees do not have to make their own contributions to profit-sharing plans. ...
- Workers can take profits in the form of cash or company stock.
What are the benefits of profit sharing?
What Are the Pros of a Profit Sharing Plan?
- It helps to create a culture of ownership. People will treat things better when they own them as a general rule. ...
- It encourages participation. Employees must be empowered to do more than just come to work every day. ...
- It links rewards to the idea of a hard day’s work. ...
- It gives an organization a competitive advantage within their market share.
What is profit sharing?
Profit sharing refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses. In publicly traded companies these plans typically amount to allocation of shares to employees.
What are the rules for profit sharing?
Profit-Sharing Plans for Small Employers
- Adopt a written plan document. Plans begin with a written document that serves as the foundation for day-to-day plan operations. ...
- Eligibility and participation. An employee becomes a participant in a profit-sharing plan when they meet the plan's eligibility requirements.
- Contributions. ...
- Vesting. ...
What benefit sharing means?
Benefit sharing is the action of giving a portion of advantages/profits derived from the use of genetic resources or traditional knowledge to resource providers.
How does benefit sharing work?
How does it work? Access and benefit-sharing is based on prior informed consent (PIC) being granted by a provider to a user and negotiations between both parties to develop mutually agreed terms (MAT) to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources and associated benefits.
What is benefit sharing under biodiversity Act?
Benefit Sharing – Equitable sharing of the benefits (both monetary and non-monetary), arising out of the use of accessed biological resources, their by-products, innovations and practices associated with their use and applications and knowledge relating thereto in accordance with mutually agreed terms and conditions ...
What is access and benefit sharing in research?
Access and benefit-sharing refers to the way in which genetic resources may be accessed, and how users and providers reach agreement on the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that might result from their use.
What is access benefit?
Access and benefit-sharing (ABS) refers to the way in which genetic resources may be accessed, and how the benefits that result from their use are shared between the people or countries using the resources (users) and the people or countries that provide them (providers).
What is fair and equitable benefit sharing?
Fair and equitable distribution of benefits refers to the measures taken to ensure that the benefits arising from the utilization of biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge, as well as the subsequent applications and commercialization, are shared in a fair and equitable way among all those organizations or ...
What is Nagoya Protocol Upsc?
Nagoya Protocol – Introduction. This protocol is a legal framework for the implementation of one of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is the fair & equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. The protocol was adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.
What are Bonn Guidelines?
What are the Bonn Guidelines? The Bonn Guidelines are intended to assist governments in the adoption of measures to govern access and benefit-sharing in their countries. They were adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2002.
Is India a part of Nagoya Protocol?
India is a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. These international obligations have further strengthened India's resolve and commitment towards conservation of biological diversity.
What does the ethical principle of sharing benefits mean?
Its meaning is simple: those who contribute to scientific research and innovation ought to share in the resulting benefits.
Is the Nagoya Protocol retroactive?
Will the Nagoya Protocol apply retroactively to prior research and development activities? In line with international law, the Nagoya Protocol does not apply to activities that took place before its entry into force.
What is bio diversity?
Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area—the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life.
An Overview
Benefits sharing occurs when NPS receives monetary or non-monetary benefits from the commercial use of a discovery or invention resulting from research originating under an NPS Scientific Research and Collecting Permit, or other permit or authorization.
Early history
In 1995, Yellowstone National Park began exploring benefit sharing as a park option. Park managers concluded that Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) under the Federal Technology Transfer Act (FTTA) would be a legal and appropriate way for Yellowstone to implement benefits sharing and enhance resource conservation.
What is benefit sharing?
Benefit sharing has been a recurrent theme in international debates for the past two decades. However, despite its prominence in law, medical ethics and political philosophy, the concept has never been satisfactorily defined. In this conceptual paper, a definition that combines current legal guidelines with input from ethics debates is developed. Philosophers like boxes; protective casings into which they can put concisely-defined concepts. Autonomy is the human capacity for self-determination; beneficence denotes the virtue of good deeds, coercion is the intentional threat of harm and so on. What about benefit sharing? Does the concept have a box and are the contents clearly defined? The answer to this question has to be no. The concept of benefit sharing is almost unique in that various disciplines use it regularly without precise definitions. In this article, a definition for benefit sharing is provided, to eliminate unnecessary ambiguity.
What is the normative justification for benefit sharing in the context of non-human genetic resources?
The normative justification for benefit sharing in the context of non-human genetic resources can be taken straight from the CBD. The CBD identified the conservation of biological diversity as “a common concern of humankind” (Article15 (1)). World leaders meeting at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, agreed that the destruction of biological diversity would continue unabated unless the custodians of this natural wealth benefit from its conservation. In short, without fair benefit sharing, the conservation and sustainable use of non-human genetic resources will continue to be at risk. In this respect, the justification for benefit sharing according to the CBD relies on a mutually beneficial instrumental approach. In Aristotelian terms, we are dealing with “commutative justice”, where each party gives one thing and receives another, with a focus on the equivalence of the exchange. In the case at hand, the exchange takes place between the provision of access for bioprospecting and compensation, be it monetary or non-monetary.
What is the meaning of "benefit" in OED?
According to the OED, “benefit” delineates an advantage or a profit gained from something. For example, Jonas enjoys the benefits of being a sports club member. “To share” means to give a portion of something to another. For instance, Janina shared the pie with Jonas.
What is the relevant higher good?
The relevant higher good is typically a normative end —for instance, the prevention of harm. The contribution from ethics to the benefit-sharing box would therefore have to paint the broader picture—namely, the normative justification for benefit sharing and ethical limitations to its application.
Is benefit sharing for genetic resources an international law?
This definition is broad enough to encompass human and non-human genetic resources, although benefit sharing for human genetic resources is not an international legal requirement. In addition to international guidelines and national law, regional associations have formulated voluntary guidelines or model laws.
Can ethics add to the benefit sharing box?
Can ethics add something to the benefit-sharing box that goes beyond the legal contribution? Yes, it can. To step from law to ethics and vice versa normally requires intricate moves in jurisprudence. This is not the place to outline such moves. For the purpose of defining benefit sharing, let us therefore assume a simplified link between ethics and law. Laws reduce individual freedom. To justify the coercion associated, a higher good needs to be invoked. The relevant higher good is typically a normative end—for instance, the prevention of harm. The contribution from ethics to the benefit-sharing box would therefore have to paint the broader picture—namely, the normative justification for benefit sharing and ethical limitations to its application. But please note, this broader picture must accept guidance from law and policy developments to be pertinent to the overall discussion on benefit sharing. Benefit sharing based on a common heritage idea emerged in the 1970s with the following two agreements: (United Nations) Agreement governing the activities of states on the Moon and other celestial bodies (1979) and Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982).
Can a cooperator benefit from genetic research?
Cooperators who cannot benefit directly from genetic research (eg, donors of DNA samples for large-scale studies) qualify for some form of additional benefits, whereas cooperators who can benefit directly (eg, recipients of experimental drugs in pharmacogenetics trials) do not. 18.
Benefit Sharing
Instead of Revenue Sharing with individuals, this process allows benefits to be shared with source communities from which positive externalities have been derived.
Definition
" benefit sharing "refers to a commitment to channel some kind of returns -- whether monetary or non-monetary -- back to the range of designated participants: affected communities, source communities or source nations, participants in clinical trials, genetic disease patient groups." ( http://research.iftf.net/node/721 )
Examples
Here's how open source security software company Untangle gives back to its community. Interviewer is Glyn Moody.
More Information
Cori Hayden, "Benefit-Sharing: Experiments in Governance" http://programs.ssrc.org/ccit/publications/hayden-benefitsharing.doc
Why is sharing important?
Sharing gives us the opportunity to shed some of our suspicions of people. It’s a great way to extinguish our doubt about what’s good in the world.
What does it mean to share something?
To share, as defined by Merriam Webster, is simply to let someone else have or use a part of (something that belongs to you).
What do we learn from sharing with others?
But when we share with others, what we learn is that we’re actually creating more joy, gratitude, trust, and community – not only for ourselves, but also for the world.
Why do we learn to share our toys?
As children, we learn how to share our toys and time because it’s not something that we are born knowing. So as adults, since the concept is so driven into us as children, you’d think we’d be more open to sharing. Clearly we know how to do it!
Is sharing good or bad?
Sharing, especially good things, is somewhat looked down upon. Like I used to think: What’s mine is mine. But believe it or not, sharing is scientifically proven to boost our personal well-being!
Why is profit sharing important?
The assurance that they will be rewarded above and beyond their base salaries for helping the company prosper motivates employees to perform above and beyond minimal expectations.
What is profit sharing?
“Profit sharing” refers to variable pay workplace compensation systems under which employees receive a percentage of the company’s profits in addition to their regular salary, bonuses, and benefits. In an effort to help its employees save for retirement, the company contributes a part of its profits into a pool of funds to be distributed among employees. Profit sharing plans may be offered in lieu of or in addition to traditional retirement benefits, and the company is free to make contributions even if it fails to make a profit.
How do companies determine how much they will contribute to each employee's profit sharing plan?
Many companies determine how much they will contribute to each employee’s profit sharing plan using the “comp-to-comp” or “pro-rata” method , which allocates a share of the profit based on the employee’s relative salaries.
What are the strengths of profit sharing?
While employees benefit from their profit sharing money, the assurance of its payment can make them appreciate less as a motivational tool and more as an annual entitlement. Since they receive their profit sharing contribution regardless of their job performance, individual employees see little need to improve.
How much can a company contribute to profit sharing?
This amount changes depending on the inflation rate. For example, in 2019, the law allowed for a maximum contribution of the lesser of 25% of the employee’s total compensation or $56,000, with a limit of $280,000.
When can you take a profit sharing distribution?
Employees can begin taking penalty-free distributions from these accounts after age 59 1/2. If taken before age 59 1/2, distributions may be subject to a 10% penalty.
Does profit sharing favor employees?
However, the company has to prove that its profit sharing plan does not unfairly favor its highest-paid employees or officers. The company’s profit sharing contributions may be made in the form of cash or stocks and bonds.