Dear friends and colleagues,
Please find below an Open Letter by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food highlighting concern over the Regional Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Plant Varieties by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)
(Sangeeta Shashikant) – The Draft Regulations for the implementation of the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants fails to elaborate a mechanism for operationalizing Article 4(1) of the Protocol on the right of a Contracting Party to object to the grant of plant breeders’ rights.
The right to object is a critical outcome that emerged out of intense negotiations preceding the adoption of the Protocol by Members of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO).
One of the new procedures for granting PVP in Brazil is the requirement of a declaration of access or non-access to national genetic heritage samples or associated traditional knowledge (access declaration) that might have occurred during the development of a new plant variety.
Global Consultation on Farmers’ Rights, Bali Indonesia 27–30 September 2016
Co-chairs' summary of recommendations to the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
When countries belong to several international instruments, some aspects of those instruments may run contradictory to one another. A symposium held recently by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) sought to explore the interrelations between the convention and the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Farmers’ rights lie at the intersection of the two treaties and while some find the treaties complementary, some others view them as contradictory on farmers’ rights.
UPOV member states and observers will be meeting in Geneva between 24th and 28th October for UPOV's Autumn session. Its main rule-making body, the Consultative Committee (CC) will meet on 27th, while the UPOV Council, its highest decision-making body, on 28th October. The Administrative and Legal Committee (CAJ) is scheduled for the 25th October.
A side event to last week’s annual General Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization looked at ways for developing countries to design sui generis system for protecting new varieties of plant. The event also looked into the technical assistance provided by WIPO, which, according to the groups, focuses only on the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) system.
The Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES), Third World Network (TWN), and South Centre organised the side event on 7 October.
Almost 100 representatives from farmers’ organisations, civil society, contracting parties, research institutes, international organization and the seed sector were gathered in Bali, Indonesia between the 27th and 30th September to discuss the implementation of Farmers’ Rights as established by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Plant Treaty).
In advance of an Expert Meeting to review Draft Regulations for the Implementation of the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, the Secretariat of the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO) released a draft adverse to the interests of small farmers. The Expert Meeting met in Harare from 14 to 16 June 2016.
Attended by some 60 government officials from the 19 ARIPO Member States, the African Seed Trade Association, foreign entities such as the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the European Union’s Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and the French Association for Seed and Seedlings (GNIS), the meeting, for the first time, included three members of the African civil society - the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM- Zimbabwe).