The Budapest Treaty established a system for depositing microorganisms at International Depositary Authorities (IDAs) to satisfy patent disclosure requirements. It allows for a single international deposit to count as a disclosure for patent procedures in all contracting states. Currently there are 80 contracting states and 46 IDAs. The treaty simplifies and reduces costs of patent procedures for inventions involving microorganisms by providing common disclosure rules across states. It has led to increased sharing and cooperation between IDAs for access to deposited biological material.