The French Council of Biotechnologies comments on the balance of PVP

The Economic, Social and Ethical Committee of the High Council of Biotechnologies (an authority for evaluation, expertise and consultation, established by law in 2008) in its Recommendations on Intellectual Property, published on 12th June 2013, made several statements regarding the interpretation and further development of PVP law.

It recommends to not integrate a temporary embargo of the breeders’ exemption into future PVP laws, to consider void all contracts (like shrink-wrap licenses) which aim at prohibiting retro-engineering, and to allow the free multiplication of seeds (under the breeders’ exemption) by farmers, if the farmer practises "evolutionary selection".

An unofficial translation of selected parts of the recommendations can be found here .