Standard Material Transfer Agreements (SMTAs)

Indicator 15.6.1: Total reported number of Standard Material Transfer Agreements (SMTAs) transferring plant genetic resources for food and agriculture to the country (number). The Contracting Parties to the Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture have established a Multilateral System both to facilitate access to Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and to share, in a fair and equitable way, the benefits arising from the utilization of these resources, on a complementary and mutually reinforcing basis. Article 12.4 of the Treaty provides that facilitated access under the Multilateral System shall be provided pursuant to a Standard Material Transfer Agreement, and the Governing Body of the Treaty, in its Resolution 1/2006 of 16 June 2006, adopted the Standard Material Transfer Agreement.
The Standard Material Transfer Agreement is a mandatory model for parties wishing to provide and receive material under the Multilateral System.

For this complementary sub-indicator, the unit of measurement is the number of Standard Material Transfer Agreements (SMTAs). The total number of SMTAs transferring plant genetic resources for food and agriculture to the country is a cumulative figure. It is calculated based on information generated through the Easy-SMTA platform. The data is the number of SMTA reported through the online system of Easy-SMTA for each country. SMTA is a mandatory contract that Contracting Parties of the International Treaty have agreed to use whenever  plant genetic resources falling under the Multilateral System are made available through transfer.  The number of SMTA issued (signed) could be higher, as all SMTAs signed may not be reported through the online system and therefore not recorded