Authored by MS Suneetha and Balakrishna Pisupati and presented during a side-event at ABS 7, this report attempts to assess and analyze the issues related to benefit sharing, the entry points for discussions on the issues and the possible considerations that national implementing authorities should make before deciding on benefit sharing principles and policies. The principles are discussed under five topics in the order of a typical scheme in a bio-prospecting exercise: defining ownership over resources and related knowledge; by-products/Derivatives; benefit sharing; Third Party Transfer of research results; and intellectual property concerns.