The Multiple Meanings of ‘Delinking’ and ‘Decoupling’ to Describe Multilateral Access and Benefit-Sharing

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Pandemic Agreement in May 2025. The contentious Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system was incorporated as an Annex, to be negotiated at a later date. Access and benefit-sharing (ABS) was introduced into international environmental law to make access to genetic resources conditional on, or ‘linked’ to, the sharing of benefits associated with using those resources. The negotiation for a multilateral PABS system represents a continuation of more than 30 years of ABS discussions, negotiations, diplomacy, and scholarly literature in international environmental law. This article takes a closer look at the term ‘delinking’, which was frequently used in the three years of negotiations for the Pandemic Agreement. We find that the terms ‘delinking’ and ‘decoupling’ have been used interchangeably to refer to at least three different scenarios in the operationalization of multilateral ABS models: where the country of origin of the materials is not necessarily the recipient of benefits; where the type and quantity of benefits are not linked to the use of a specific sample of genetic resources, or in situations that combine these two models. We propose an ‘ABS Modalities Spectrum’ as a useful tool for assessing ‘delinking’ proposals. Our analysis serves as a reminder to WHO member states about to embark on negotiations for the PABS Annex that multilateral ABS systems exist on a spectrum, and do not have to default to the contract-based multilateral models that have been favoured to date.