During a special session of the WHO's PIP Advisory Group on 13. October 2015, Germany highlighted its views on the handling of genetic sequence data (GSD):

"The Federal Republic of Germany entered, in 2010, into a public-private partnership with the GISAID Initiative and has since hosted the publicly-accessible EpiFlu database, employing a unique sharing mechanism which ensures that inherent rights (e.g. IPR) of contributors of GSD are not forfeit."  

Access to EpiFlu is free and open to anyone who positively identifies himself or herself and agrees to a Database Access Agreement (DAA). This agreement ensures fair and transparent sharing of GSD, making certain that all users mutually respect the rights of contributors and other users. Importantly, this mechanism provides contributors with the necessary respect and incentive to rapidly share GSD, in the interests of Public Health.

In relation to monitoring the use of GSD under the PIP Framework, access to GSD in EpiFlu can be traced, permitting lawful audits and providing the basis for an enforceability mechanism, and recourse of MS should the need arise.  GISAID went live during the WHA 2008, three years ahead of the PIP-FW, where it was identified as an alternative to Public Domain contributions, providing MS with an option for making GSD available, not only in the spirit of the PIP-FW’s benefit sharing concepts but also in full compliance with IHR (2005). Germany’s commitment acknowledges that, with regard to GSD, GISAID’s fulfils all the principles laid down in the PIP-Framework.

Like other MS, Germany is concerned about access to GSD of highly pathogenic influenza viruses and believes systems like GISAID make a valuable contribution to Global Health Security.

Download PDF of Germany's Statement 

During the Review of the PIP Framework at the Session of the 140^th WHO Executive Board, 27 January 2017, Germany's Statement encompassed the following points:

"In this regard we would like to refer to the already well-established and widely used sharing mechanism of influenza virus GSD from GISAID. This sharing mechanism is applied for GSDs uploaded in EpiFlu and allows traceability of GSD."

"Germany will maintain its commitment to global influenza preparedness and to the PIP Framework. One important pillar of this commitment is our partnership with GISAID. We will continue to host the database EpiFlu as an important tool for sharing of genetic sequences data in the spirit of the PIP Framework, ensuring fair, timely and transparent access to GSD in a sustainable way.

Listen to the Original recording of Germany's Statement ♫

Download PDF of Germany's Statement  

"Vaccines are not the only important instrument in the toolkit against contagions; there is arguably another even more important one - data. Without vital information such as the genetic sequences of pathogens, it would be impossible to fight not just Covid-19 but a whole range of other deadly outbreaks. This is where GISAID comes into play."

"The GISAID initiative promotes the rapid sharing of data on all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing Covid-19. This has not only helped the WHO and governments to respond faster, but also sped up the development of much-needed vaccines and diagnostic kits. The sharing of data is also critical in the tracking of viral mutations."

"In 2010, Germany became the official hosting nation of GISAID, which has the world's biggest database of viral genomes. It is supported by private donors, governments and non-profit organisations. Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research and its Bioinformatics Institute entered into a longterm cooperation agreement with GISAID in 2014 and have since played a major role in setting up and maintaining the database to share and analyse genomes."

"The active roles played by Singapore and Germany in Covax and GISAID testify to their shared belief in the power of multilateralism. It is the belief that the major challenges of our time cannot be addressed by countries individually due to their nature and global scale. Instead, they must be tackled jointly in a rules-based multilateral cooperation framework."

Dr. Norbert Riedel is Germany's Ambassador to Singapore.

Download PDF of Germany's Statement 
Chinese language website: https://www.zaobao.com.sg/forum/views/story20210412-1138684
English language website:  https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes20210409-1.2.12.5

Ownership to data remain unchanged. While Data in GISAID are publicly accessible, Submitters do not forfeit their sovereign rights (IPR) to the Data they deposit and share in GISAID. All rights are explicitly preserved and may not be altered under the license provided through GISAID's Terms of Use. 

No.  GISAID does not support the release of data to databases where access to data is anonymous and the rights of the submitter are relinquished.  GISAID already provides the public with open access to data in a transparent way.

GISAID was specifically created as an alternative to public-domain archives (e.g. Genbank/INSDC) as they do not provide reliable mechanisms to address the concerns of data depositors seeking a transparent exchange of data and the upholding of scientific etiquette.

GISAID does not offer a mechanism to release data to any other database.