African Groups Seek To Modify “UPOV 91+” Draft Protocol

By Catherine Saez

A group of African civil society institutions is calling for a revision of the draft protocol on plant variety protection of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation.

Recently approved by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the protocol has been under fire from civil society for some time.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) has issued a submission and sent it to ARIPO, the African Union (AU), and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)“to urgently revise the draft ARIPO Plant Variety Protection Protocol.

In particular, AFSA is asking for “a broader consultation process with farmer organisations and experts from outside of the plant breeders’ right sector.” ARIPO “has failed to comply with Article V of the 1976 Lusaka Agreement establishing the ARIPO (Lusaka Agreement), which requires ARIPO to consult with the AU and UNECA,” they said.

AFSA is calling for the draft protocol to comply with “the more flexible effective sui generis requirements of TRIPS [pdf] Article 27.3 (b)” and that it includes provisions that recognise farmers’ rights. TRIPS is the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

According to AFSA, if the draft protocol is adopted at the next ARIPO diplomatic conference in March 2015, it would allow any ARIPO member that ratifies the protocol to join UPOV.

In AFSA’s view, the “adoption of the least flexible approach in the realm of plant breeders’ rights, as set out in the draft ARIPO PVP Protocol, represents a protection regime that goes further than UPOV 1991, hence it is correct to describe it as ‘UPOV 1991+’.”