Who signs the DPA, on whose behalf

The Data Provider Agreement (DPA) is a legal commitment between your institute and the Crop Trust. Choosing the right signatory is the most common cause of delay in onboarding, so it's worth getting right from the start.

This section covers three questions: who at your institute can sign, on whose behalf they can sign and how exceptional cases are handled.

Who can sign the DPA

The signatory must be someone with legal authority to bind the institute into agreements with external parties. This isn't a Genesys-specific requirement: it's a general requirement of any legally binding agreement.

In practice, the right signatory is usually one of the following roles or the local equivalent:

Role	Typical at
Director-General	National research institutes, CGIAR centers, government agencies
Rector or Vice-Chancellor	Universities
Chief Executive Officer	Independent research foundations, private genebanks
Executive Director	Non-profit and project-based institutions
Head of Institute, Department Head	Some smaller, stand-alone research institutes
Permanent Secretary or Minister	Some national genebanks attached directly to a ministry

The common thread is that the signatory must be the person whose signature is recognized as binding the institute as a whole. The titles vary by country, sector and institutional structure: what matters is the authority, not the label.

Roles that usually cannot sign

The following roles are typically not sufficient on their own to sign the DPA:

• Genebank curator: the curator is usually the day-to-day Genesys focal point, but the curator's role is technical, not legal-representative.
• Data manager or information systems lead.
• Research scientist or principal investigator: even on project-funded data.
• Project coordinator: even on the project that funded the data collection.

In each of these cases, the person above them in the institutional hierarchy is usually the appropriate signatory. There are exceptions; for example, an institute may have delegated signing authority to a department head through a formal delegation instrument. If your institution has such a delegation in place, the delegated person can sign, but the Crop Trust may ask to see the delegation document during due diligence.

How to confirm who the right signatory is at your institute

If you're not sure, here are two practical approaches:

1. Ask your institute's contracts or legal office. They will know who has signing authority for external agreements of this kind. Frame it as: "We are entering into a non-financial data-sharing agreement with the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Who is authorized to sign on behalf of the institute?"
2. Look at recent comparable agreements. Memoranda of understanding, research collaboration agreements and similar non-financial agreements at your institute will tell you who has signed in the past for this type of arrangement.

On whose behalf can the signatory sign?

The DPA is signed on behalf of the legal entity that holds the data. In the simplest case, that entity is the institute that operates a single genebank, and the institute's authorized signatory signs for that one collection.

But the relationship is not always one-to-one. Several common patterns:

One institute, multiple genebanks

Many institutes operate more than one genebank, often at different sites or specializing in different crops. In this case:

• One DPA covers all the genebanks operated by the same institute. You don't need a separate DPA for each site.
• All the FAO WIEWS institute codes (INSTCODEs) for those genebanks should be listed when you provide your information to the Crop Trust (required information, item 4).
• The institute's authorized signatory signs once, on behalf of all the collections.

Example: a national agricultural research organization that runs three regional genebanks across the country signs a single DPA on behalf of all three. The DPA references all three INSTCODEs.

One parent institute, multiple legally distinct subsidiaries

If the "genebanks" in question are legally distinct entities (separate registered organizations) under a common parent, the picture is different:

• Each legally distinct entity needs its own DPA. The parent institute cannot bind subsidiaries to a legal commitment unless it has formal authority to do so under the relevant national or institutional law.
• The Crop Trust will assess the relationship during due diligence and advise.

If you are unsure whether your sub-institutes are "the same institute with multiple sites" or "distinct entities under a common parent", consult your institute's legal office.

Aggregating networks

Some genebanks publish to Genesys not directly but through a network that aggregates and forwards data on their behalf, for example, the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO).

In this case:

• The network signs a DPA with the Crop Trust covering the data it forwards
• Each individual contributing genebank has its own arrangement with the network, usually a National Inventory contribution agreement or equivalent
• The individual genebanks do not sign separate DPAs with the Crop Trust

If your genebank is a member of a network like EURISCO, check with your network coordinator whether you publish through them or whether you need a direct DPA with the Crop Trust. Most European national genebanks contribute through EURISCO; many regional and crop-specific networks have similar arrangements.

Exceptional cases

The vast majority of DPAs are signed using the standard template, with no modifications. There is one well-known exception type: time-bound agreements for data assembled under a specific project with a defined end date.

Project-based data sharing

Where data has been assembled under a research project with a fixed end date, the institute may need a DPA with a corresponding end date, for example because the funding agreement requires that public availability of the project data be reviewed at the end of the project.

In these cases:

• Raise the requirement before the DPA is drafted (during the initial conversation with the helpdesk; see Procedure to Join Genesys, Step 2: Contact the Genesys helpdesk)
• The Crop Trust will draft an agreement with an explicit end date
• At the end date, the agreement is either renewed (if the data is to remain on Genesys) or the data is removed (following the standard withdrawal procedure)

These cases are uncommon but not rare. Historically only one or two providers have required this treatment and the Crop Trust handles them through ordinary correspondence.

Other exceptions

Other deviations from the standard template (for example, where national law or institutional policy requires specific contract clauses that are not in the standard DPA) are handled case by case. If you believe your institute has such a requirement, contact helpdesk@genesys-pgr.org as early as possible in the conversation. The earlier the Crop Trust knows about a constraint, the more likely the agreement can be drafted to accommodate it without significant delay.

The Pass or Fail Check

1. Can our genebank curator sign the DPA?
   Not usually. The DPA is a legal commitment that binds the institute as a whole and the curator typically does not have legal authority to enter the institute into external agreements. The right signatory is usually the Director-General, Rector, Chief Executive Officer or equivalent. If your institute has formally delegated signing authority to a department head or curator, that delegation can be honored, but the Crop Trust may ask to see the delegation document during due diligence.

2. We operate three genebanks at different sites. Do we need three DPAs?
   No. If all three are operated by the same legal entity (the same institute), a single DPA covers all of them. Provide all three FAO WIEWS institute codes when you submit your information to the helpdesk.

3. Our genebank was set up under a five-year research project. Can we sign a DPA with an end date?
   Yes. The Crop Trust can draft a time-bound DPA in this case. Raise the requirement during your first conversation with the helpdesk so it can be reflected in the draft from the start. At the end of the term, the agreement can be renewed or the data removed.