1. The law broadly defines biodiversity.
2. It includes plants, animals and microorganisms and their parts, their genetic materials and by-products.
3. It excludes value added products and human genetic material.
4. Regulation of access to Indian biological resources as well as scientific cataloguing of traditional knowledge about ethnobiological materials were the main objectives for proposing this Act.
5. There is three-tier system, viz. National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level, the State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) at the state level and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local level that gives approval of utilization of any biological resource for commercial or research purpose.
6. It is mandatory for foreigners, NRIs as well as Indian citizens and institutions to seek permission from NBA before exploiting local resource.
7. NBA has powers of civil court. Not seeking approval of NBA, can incur jail and fine up to 10 lakh rupees.
