Paper: Strict Plant Variety Protection In Africa Goes Beyond International Regulation

By Catherine Saez

A new paper by a Norwegian researcher finds that recent legislation efforts on plant variety protection in Africa go beyond the requirements of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

The author, Hans Morten Haugen, professor of International Diakonia, Diakonhjemmet University College in Oslo, discusses the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)’s decision to become a member of UPOV.

The paper also looks at the Tanzanian 2012 Plant Protection Variety Act. The author explores the reason why “the same developing countries which have been arguing for low protection standards in the global context of the TRIPS Agreement (World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), do accept high protection standards on the regional and domestic levels.”

Stricter plant breeders rights are adopted to help the private sector to take a more central role in the development of new plant varieties, Haugen said. “In the absence of adequate institutions for regulation of anti-competitive practices, the agricultural sector might be dominated by one or a few commercial providers…,” he said.

For further information about the publication, the author can be reached at haugen@diakonhjemmet.no