"Facilitated access" to plant genetic resources: does it work?

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture entered into force in 2004 and is an important instrument by which plant breeders can access crop genetic diversity on the basis of multilateral "facilitated access". To test how well access works, we sent seed requests to 121 countries that are Contracting Parties to the Treaty. Seeds were received from 44 countries, 54 countries did not respond, while for 23 countries contacts stopped for various reasons: loss of communication, the accessions we requested did not exist or were not in the multilateral system, or conditions or standard material transfer agreements were different from those specified in the Treaty. It is concluded that after nearly 10 years, "facilitated access" is not straightforward.