National Park Service Benefits Sharing Program

The National Park Service issued its final benefits-sharing policy directive on December 19, 2013.

The NPS encourages qualified scientists to undertake research on park physical, biological and other resources under the aegis of park Scientific Research and Collecting Permits. Such permits are issued for scientific and educational purposes only. The specimens and components of specimens may not be used for commercial or other revenue-generating purposes. Parties proposing commercial use of research results must enter into an agreement to share benefits with NPS or an agreement in which NPS explicitly declines to share benefits. In accordance with the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998, which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into negotiations with the research community and private industry for equitable, efficient benefits-sharing arrangements, NPS has developed policy and procedures to implement benefits-sharing. For each benefits-sharing agreement, NPS proposes to choose an applicable agreement type from among several available authorities. The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, authorized by the FTTA, is one such option.

 

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