(1) Any person other than a person referred to in sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Act seeking approval of the Board for access to any biological resources for commercial utilisation or bio-survey and bio-utilisation for commercial utilisation, shall make an application to the Board in Form I. Every application shall be accompanied by a fee of Rs.10,000/-(Rupees ten thousand only) in the form of demand draft drawn in favour of the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board or as may be directed by the Board.
(2) The Board after due appraisal of the application and after consultation with the Biodiversity Management Committees concerned and, after collecting such additional information, as it may deem fit and if necessary, after consulting an expert committee constituted for this purpose, shall pass orders on the application, as far as possible within a period of three months of receipt of the same. In this context, the word "consult" for the purposes of this rule includes the following steps, namely, (a) issuing of public notice in local languages, of the proposal for access or collection; (b) discussion with the general assembly of the local body about the proposal and its implications for conservation and livelihoods.
(3) On being satisfied with the merit of the application, the Board may issue order (permissive, restrictive or prohibitive), subject to such terms and conditions as it may deem necessary to impose or restrict any such activity if it is of the opinion that such activity is detrimental or contrary to the objectives of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity or equitable sharing of benefits arising out of such activity.
(4) Such order shall be in the form of agreement duly signed by the Secretary of the Board and the applicant and it shall govern the access and benefit sharing. The form of the agreement and the terms and conditions of such agreement shall be decided by the Board.
(5) The terms and conditions for such order may specifically provide measures for conservation and protection of biological resources to which the access is being granted.
(6) The Board may reject the application if it considers that the request cannot be acceded to, after recording the reasons. Before passing an order of rejection, the applicant shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
(7) Any information given in the Form referred to in the sub-rule (1) shall be kept confidential and shall not be disclosed, either intentionally or unintentionally, to any person not concerned thereto.
(8) The Guidelines on Access to Biological Resources and Associated Knowledge and Benefit Sharing Regulation, 2014 with subsequent modifications or amendments thereof, if any, shall be adopted as procedure in processing such cases by the Board.
172 tamil nadu government gazette [Part III—Sec. 1(a)