5th September 2000

FAO PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES NEGOTIATIONS COULD IMPACT TRIPS

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From 26-31 August, delegates from 36 countries and four intergovernmental observer organisations met for the third Inter- Sessional Contact Group on the Revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, (IU), in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Tehran, Iran. At the meeting, delegates made significant progress on intellectual property rights (IPR) issues relating to facilitated access to technology and commercial benefit-sharing.

The session set the stage for the IU to potentially provide technical input into the WTO’s discussions on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and other processes relating to genetic resources for food and agriculture. The suggestion to include a “savings clause” to address the IPR issue — a provision that would subordinate the IU to existing international commitments (e.g. WTO rules) — prompted heated debate amongst delegates and remains to be sorted out before the November 2000 deadline to conclude discussions.

The non-binding IU was founded in 1983 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Its objective is to ensure that plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) — especially species of present or future economic and social importance — are explored, collected, conserved, evaluated, utilised and made available for plant breeding and other scientific purposes. Thus far, 113 countries have adhered to the IU, with Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia and the US as notable exceptions.

An approved and finalised IU is supposed to be ready for presentation to the 119th FAO Council scheduled for November 2000. While many delegates described the third Contact Group meeting as the most successful to date, further negotiations are required to finalise an agreement. The Chair pushed to conclude the negotiations at a meeting from 9-20 October 2000 in Rome, but further negotiating sessions are contingent upon extra-budgetary funds.

At the six-day August meeting, negotiators continued discussions on a Consolidated Draft Text, specifically on facilitated access, benefit- sharing and financial resources. Finalising the list of crops covered by a so-called ‘Multilateral System’ to facilitate access to PGRFA remains the biggest hurdle to overcome before the November deadline.