The Standard Material Transfer Agreement
The Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) is a standard contract that sets out the terms and conditions ensuring that the relevant provisions of the International Treaty are followed when transferring plant genetic material that is included in the Multilateral System. It is the result of lengthy negotiation. The SMTA regulates exchanges of plant genetic material, prevents their misuse, and ensures that any commercial benefits that arise are fairly and equitably shared.
The terms and conditions of the SMTA may not be varied in any way, but it contains some paragraphs and sections that need to be completed for each use. The SMTA can be compiled online in six languages and, if users wish, can also be concluded online through the Easy-SMTA application. More than 84 000 SMTAs were used to transfer plant material for research, training and plant breeding from 2007 until mid-2021.
Text of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement:
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Opinions and Advice on the use of the SMTA
Opinions and Advice on the use of the SMTA
| At its Fifth Session in 2013, the Governing Body took note of the opinions and advice provided by the Ad Hoc Technical Advisory Committee on the Multilateral System and the SMTA at its third and fourth meetings, as helpful guidance for Contracting Parties in implementing their obligations under the International Treaty, and requested the Secretariat to make those opinions and advice easily available, including through its website, so that all users could benefit from the guidance. The booklet Opinions and advice of the Ad Hoc Technical Advisory Committee on the Multilateral System and the Standard Material Transfer Agreement is available at: www.fao.org/3/a-i4578e.pdf |
Drafting of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement
Drafting of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement
In adopting the International Treaty, the FAO Conference requested the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture to act as Interim Committee for the International Treaty, which decided to establish an Expert Group to develop and propose recommendations on the provisions of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). It requested the Interim Committee to prepare, for the consideration of the Governing Body, on the basis of the work of the Expert Group, "a draft Standard Material Transfer Agreement provided for in Article 12.4 of the Treaty for facilitated access, which shall include, inter alia, recommended terms for commercial benefit-sharing under Article 13.2d(ii)".
The Expert Group on the Terms of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement met in Brussels, at the invitation of the European Commission, in October 2004, and the basic lines for the draft Standard Material Transfer Agreement were laid out.
The result was reported to the Second Meeting of the Interim Committee (Rome, November 2004), which established the Contact Group for the Drafting of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement.
The Contact Group met twice: in Hammamet, Tunisia, in July 2005, with financial support provided by the United States of America; and in Alnarp, Sweden, in April 2006, at the invitation of Sweden. That meeting agreed on the draft text of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement, which was subsequently finalised and approved.
Additional information can be found in the Educational Module on the MLS