| Module 6 Article 27.3(b): Related International
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To explain the FAO Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources and its elements, in particular the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) and the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources (IUPGR). This will strengthen the position of countries in the process of implementation of the TRIPS Agreement and in the future negotiations on intellectual property-related issues, including the TRIPS review.
6.1 Introduction
6.2 FAO Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources
6.3 FAO International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources (IUPGR)
The FAO Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources and the multilateral agreements and instruments that it encompasses, have been developed, on a process of consensus, within the forum provided by the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources of Food and Agriculture. The consensus reached by the Commission has been endorsed by the FAO Council and Conference and is now represented by the elements of the Global System.
In 1983, the FAO Conference established the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources as a permanent intergovernmental forum to deal with questions concerning plant genetic resources. It also adopted as a formal framework the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources (IUPGR). The Commission has since coordinated, overseen and monitored the development of the FAO Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Evolution 1983-1995
Article 7 of the IUPGR provides that the international arrangements set up in the Undertaking "will be further developed, and, where necessary, complemented in order to develop a Global System". The Terms of Reference of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources state that the Commission shall "recommend measures that are necessary or desirable in order to ensure the comprehensiveness of the Global System and the efficiency of its operation in line with the Undertaking". FAO Conference Resolution 4/89 endorses an Agreed Interpretation of the Undertaking "which is intended to lay the basis for an equitable and, therefore, solid and lasting Global System".
The FAO Conference agreed by unanimity, at its 28th Session (October 1995), to "broaden the mandate of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources to cover all components of biodiversity of relevance for Food and Agriculture", and that, accordingly, the Commission should now be known officially as the "Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA)". The Conference "stressed the importance of an integrated approach and full cooperation with the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Commission on Sustainable Development, and recognized that the broader Commission would facilitate such cooperation"1.
The FAO Council, at its 110th Session (November 1995), adopted the Statutes of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture2.
The objectives of the Global System are to ensure the safe conservation and promote the availability and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources, for present and future generations, by providing a flexible framework for sharing the benefits and burdens. The Global System covers both the conservation (ex situ and in situ, including on-farm) and utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
A total of 171 countries and the European Community now participate in the Global System, by having joined the CGRFA (160 countries and the European Community), adhered to the IUPGR (113 countries), or contributed to the development of the Global Plan of Action that Governments adopted formally at the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources held in Leipzig, in 1996 (159 countries).
The FAO Global System on Plant Genetic Resources consists of the following elements:
(i) Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(CGRFA);
(ii) International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources (IUPGR);
(iii) International Fund for Plant Genetic Resources;
(iv) Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture;
(v) Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture;
(vi) The World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources
(WIEWS);
(vii) The International Network of Ex Situ Collections under the Auspices of
FAO;
(viii) Network of In Situ Areas under the Auspices of FAO;
(ix) The International Code of Conduct for Plant Germplasm Collecting and Transfer;
(x) Draft Code of Conduct on Biotechnology; and
(xi) Crop Related Networks.
In June 1996, the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources was held in Leipzig, Germany, with the main purpose of reviewing the first Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and adopting the first Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, as an integral part of the FAO Global System.
Outcomes of the Leipzig Conference
The Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture describes the current situation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture at the global level, and identifies what is required to ensure their conservation and sustainable utilization, thereby laying the foundation for the Global Plan of Action.
The Global Plan of Action, as adopted by 150 countries at the International Technical Conference, contains twenty priority activities grouped in four theme areas: (i) In situ conservation and development; (ii) Ex situ conservation; (iii) Use of Plant Genetic Resources; and (iv) Institution and capacity building.
The implementation of the Global Plan of Action will be guided and monitored by countries through the FAO CGRFA. Following the Plan's adoption at the Leipzig Conference, both countries and institutions and organizations concerned with plant genetic resources have begun to use their own resources and existing capacity to implement the Plan.
The Global Plan of Action has been endorsed by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and by Heads of State and Government at the World Food Summit in 1996.
At the Leipzig Conference, countries also adopted the Leipzig Declaration on Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Declaration briefly sets out the main "hopes and commitments" in this field. In fact, 150 States and 54 Organizations gathered in Leipzig to assert and renew their commitment to the conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and to the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of such resources.
The Code of Conduct was adopted by the FAO Conference at its 27th Session in November 1993 as an element of the FAO Global System. Its purpose is to promote the collection and use of genetic resources, to prevent genetic erosion, and to protect the rights of local people. The Code was developed by FAO and negotiated by its Member States, through the CGRFA, and is based on the principle of national sovereignty over plant genetic resources. It sets up procedures to be followed by collectors and Governments when requesting or issuing licences for collecting missions with the commitment not unduly to restrict access to such resources.
The Code of Conduct is not a legally binding instrument and it therefore foresees neither mechanisms to ensure enforcement nor a dispute settlement procedure. It sets up standards of behaviour which States may find acceptable in their mutual relations, and in establishing these standards, the Code should be considered, first and foremost, as a means to strengthen the FAO Global System on Plant Genetic Resources. It is fully compatible with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. Within the framework of the latter, it aims at promoting the collection, long term conservation, and use of plant genetic resources, in ways that respect the environment; promoting a better balance of economic benefits between the users and donors of germplasm and the caretakers of wild plant resources; and promoting the safe exchange of plant genetic resources, associated technologies, and scientific information.
Provisions of the Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct helps implement the Convention on Biological Diversity's provisions on access to and transfer of genetic resources, namely Articles 15.1, 15.2, 15.4 and 15.5; and on fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, namely Articles 15.7, 16.3, 19.1 and 19.2. In addition, the Code of Conduct facilitates the implementation of Chapter 14 on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development of Agenda 21.
The Code provides guidelines for collectors; states responsibilities to sponsors of missions, the curators of genebanks and the users of genetic material. It encourages the participation of farmers and local institutions in collecting missions, and calls on users of germplasm to provide support or other ways of compensation to the host country and its farmers.
Article 7 contemplates the right of the permit issuing authority to grant or to refuse a permit, and that collectors and sponsors should undertake to respect the relevant national laws.
The IUPGR was adopted in 1983 by FAO Conference Resolution 8/83. It was the first comprehensive international agreement governing the conservation and sustainable utilization of agricultural biodiversity. Initially established as an instrument for the recognition of fundamental principles for the sustainable utilization and exploitation of plant genetic resources (PGR), this voluntary instrument is currently being re-negotiated.
In 1983, following Conference Resolution 9/83, the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources was established as a permanent inter-governmental body, through which countries, inter alia, monitor the implementation of the IUPGR and advise FAO on its activities and programmes in the field of plant genetic resources.
Objectives of the Undertaking
As worded in the IUPGR, its objective is to ensure that PGR of economic and/or social interest, particularly for agriculture, will be explored, preserved, evaluated and made available for plant breeding and scientific purposes.
Currently, 160 countries and the European Community are members of the CGRFA and 113 countries have adhered to the International Undertaking.
The latter are: Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
As originally negotiated, the Undertaking was based on the "universally accepted principle that plant genetic resources are a heritage of mankind and consequently should be available without restriction". According to its definition, given in Article 2, the concept of plant genetic resources applies to both the new products of biotechnology (commercial varieties and breeding lines), and to farmers' varieties and wild materials. However, the concept of unrestricted access is qualified. The Undertaking gives a number of possible ways by which samples of genetic resources could be made available, free of charge, on the basis of mutual exchange, or on mutually agreed terms.
Annexes to the Undertaking
In order to overcome reservations to the Undertaking, it was further qualified and interpreted by three complementary resolutions, which were negotiated by countries through the Commission and unanimously adopted by the FAO Conference. These resolutions constitute annexes to the IUPGR.
The First Resolution (4/89) provided an agreed interpretation of the IUPGR, which recognized that Plant Breeder's Rights, as provided for by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV Convention) of 1978, were not inconsistent with the Undertaking. It simultaneously recognized Farmers' Rights, which were defined in the Second Resolution (5/89).
The Third Resolution (3/91) reaffirmed that the concept of "heritage of mankind" is subject to the sovereign rights of nations over their genetic resources, and agreed that Farmers' Rights would be implemented through an international fund for plant genetic resources. The third resolution also agreed "that breeders' lines and farmers' breeding material should only be available at the discretion of their developers during the period of development". In this way the principle of "unrestricted access" was further qualified by clarifying the fact that "free access" does not necessarily mean "access free of charge"; by limiting the benefits of the IUPGR, including access to genetic resources, only to those countries adhering to the Undertaking; and by affirming the sovereign rights of countries over their plant genetic resources.
The agreed interpretations are now an integral part of the IUPGR. They seek to develop and maintain a balance between access to the new, commercial products of biotechnology, on the one hand, and farmers' varieties and wild material on the other, as well as the interests of developed and developing countries, by balancing the rights of breeders (formal innovators) and farmers (informal innovators).
FAO Conference Resolution 7/93 requested that the revision of the IUPGR be negotiated. The relevant decisions and mandates for the revision process flow from Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the Nairobi Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity (especially Resolution 3) and Resolution 7/93 of the FAO Conference.
Agenda 21 called for the strengthening of the FAO Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources, and its adjustment in line with the outcome of negotiations on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as for the realization of Farmers' Rights. The Nairobi Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted Resolution 3, which identified access to existing ex situ collections and Farmers' Rights as outstanding issues not addressed by the Convention, and recognized that solutions should be sought within the FAO Global System.
Revision of the Undertaking
In following up on these matters, the FAO Conference, at its 27th Session in November 1993, welcomed this resolution and unanimously adopted Resolution 7/93: "Revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources", which requested the Director-General to provide a forum for negotiations among Governments for (i) the adaptation of the IUPGR, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity; (ii) consideration of the issue of access on mutually agreed terms to plant genetic resources, including ex situ collections not addressed by the Convention; and (iii) the issue of the realization of Farmers' Rights. In this Resolution the Conference urged that the process be carried out through the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, with the help of its Working Group, in close collaboration with the Governing Body of the CBD.
The 5th Session of the Commission (April 1994) considered that "the revision of the International Undertaking should be conducted carefully, as a gradual, pragmatic and step-by-step process". The actions necessary for the mentioned revision may be grouped into three stages: Stage I is the consolidation of the IUPGR by the incorporation of its annexes and its harmonization with the CBD. Stage II addresses the issues of access on mutually agreed terms to plant genetic resources, including ex situ collections not addressed by the Convention, and the realization of Farmers' Rights. Stage III is the consideration of the possible legal and institutional status of the revised IUPGR3, as well as the subsidiary issue of how, and by which body or bodies, the text of the revised IUPGR will be approved, and the new instrument adopted.
Through the Commission, FAO Member States have been involved in negotiations for the revision of the IUPGR at its Regular and Extraordinary Sessions, and at the Inter-sessional meetings of the Contact Group of the Commission4, since November 1994. During these negotiations, countries are discussing possible systems of intellectual property rights, including patenting and "effective sui generis systems", that would be in line with, and fully compatible with, the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement and with the CBD. A further issue is how to ensure that technologies developed on the basis of plant genetic resources are available on terms that are consistent with the protection of intellectual property rights, as required by Article 16.1 of the CBD. In addition, the Commission is also negotiating a Code of Conduct on Biotechnology, including a component on intellectual property rights.
In this context, there has been important progress in the 1999 round of negotiations, including in relation to Article 15, Farmers' Rights, where countries negotiated and agreed on the following text:
"15.1 The Parties recognize the enormous contribution that the local and indigenous communities and farmers of all regions of the world, particularly those in the centres of origin and crop diversity, have made and will continue to make for the conservation and development of plant genetic resources which constitute the basis of food and agriculture production throughout the world.
15.2 The Parties agree that the responsibility for realizing Farmers' Rights, as they relate to Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, rests with national governments. In accordance with their needs and priorities, each Party should, as appropriate, and subject to its national legislation, take measures to protect and promote Farmers' Rights, including:
15.3 Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted to limit any rights that farmers have to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed/propagating material, subject to national law and as appropriate."
During these negotiations, many delegates recognized the connections with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreements, and a number felt that Farmers' Rights includes useful elements for the development of national sui generis systems.
The issue of Farmers' Rights resulted from debates in FAO concerning the asymmetric treatment given to donors of germplasm and donors of technology. A commercial variety is usually the product of applying breeders' technologies to farmers' germplasm and, while the former may generate returns through intellectual property rights, no system of compensation for the providers of germplasm was operational. These debates finally led to the simultaneous international recognition of Breeder's Rights and Farmers' Rights in 1989. This recognition is included in Resolutions 4/89, 5/89 and 3/91, which were negotiated by the Commission, and unanimously approved by more than 160 countries in the FAO Conference, in 1989 and 1991.
Recognition of Farmers' Rights
Resolution 4/89 recognizes "the enormous contribution that farmers of all regions have made to the conservation and development of plant genetic resources, which constitute the basis of plant production throughout the world, and which form the basis for the concept of Farmers' Rights".
Resolution 5/89 defines Farmers' Rights as "rights arising from the past, present and future contribution of farmers in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources, particularly those in the centres of origin/diversity".
Given the non-binding nature of the IUPGR, there is not in legal terms a right but only the acceptance of the notion that such a right should be recognized and implemented by the international community. Clearly enough, there will be in reality no right unless the corresponding obligation is defined and legally established.
The recognition of Farmers' Rights aimed at reconciling the views of the technology-rich and the gene-rich countries, in order to ensure the availability of plant genetic resources within an equitable system.
Resolution 5/89 endorses the concept of Farmers' Rights, "for the purpose of ensuring full benefits to farmers, and supporting the continuation of their contributions, as well as the attainment of the overall purposes of the International Undertaking".
It is therefore envisaged that the implementation of Farmers' Rights could ensure that farmers, farming communities and their countries, receive a just share of the benefits derived from plant genetic resources (which they have developed, maintained and made available); and thereby provide incentives and means for the conservation and further development of these plant genetic resources by farmers, and through cooperation between farmers, breeders and the national and international research services.
National implementation
In order to implement Farmers' Rights some developing countries are considering the inclusion of a national mechanism as part of the development of a national sui generis system of protection of new plant varieties under the TRIPS Agreement.
However, to be fully successful, given the global nature of the values of germplasm that farmers provide, the implementation of Farmers' Rights needs some form of international action in order to compensate farmers at the global level. This is because, in every country, most of the germplasm used in agriculture comes from other countries and it is often very difficult or extremely costly, and sometimes practically impossible, to determine the country or countries of origin. According to recent studies, any region of the world is dependent on genetic material which originated in other regions for over 50 percent of its basic food production, and, for several regions of the world, such dependency is close to 100 percent.
Role of an international fund
At the international level, the implementation of Farmers' Rights will probably require further progress in the constitution of an international fund, which includes the States and other Parties' contributions.
Considering this, the Governing Bodies of FAO agreed that an international fund would be established for the implementation of Farmers' Rights. Resolution 4/89 considers that Farmers' Rights "could be achieved through appropriate means, monitored by the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, including in particular the International Fund for Plant Genetic Resources".
Resolution 3/91 states that "Farmers' Rights will be implemented through an international fund on plant genetic resources which will support plant genetic conservation and utilization programmes, particularly, but not exclusively, in the developing countries"; that "the effective conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources is a pressing and permanent need and therefore the resources for the international fund as well as for other funding mechanisms should be substantial, sustainable and based on the principles of equity and transparency"; and that "through the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, the donors of genetic resources, funds and technology will determine and oversee the policies, programmes and priorities of the fund and other funding mechanisms, with the advice of the appropriate bodies".
Resolution 4/89 establishes that "the International Fund should be used to support plant genetic conservation, management and utilization programmes, particularly within developing countries, and those which are important sources of plant genetic material. Special priority should be placed on intensified educational programmes for biotechnology specialists, and strengthening the capabilities of developing countries in genetic resource conservation and management, as well as the improvement of plant breeding and seed production".
Progress in including Farmers' Rights in the Undertaking
In Chapter 14 of Agenda 21, Programme Area G: Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Governments are called, inter alia, for further steps to be taken to realize Farmers' Rights.
In this context, during the round of negotiations at the 7th Regular Session and the 4th and the 5th Extraordinary Sessions of the CGRFA in 1997 and 1998, many countries presented proposals for the realization of Farmers' Rights which included provisions for the development of national sui generis systems that would provide incentives for informal innovators, such as farmers and communities supplying plant genetic resources (and their countries), to have a right to a share of the benefits derived from their utilization. Many delegations recognized the connections with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.
As seen above, at its 8th Regular Session, held in April 1999, the CGRFA agreed to establish a Contact Group to continue negotiations for the revision of the IUPGR. The Contact Group established a text for Articles 11, 12 and 15; the latter dealing with Farmers' Rights. These Articles were reviewed by the Commission, stressing the need to build upon the considerable progress that had been made, with a view to submitting the revised Undertaking to the Governing Bodies of FAO as soon as possible.
Practical issues in operating a fund
At its fifth session (April 1993), the Commission acknowledged that a number of questions remained open and needed to be addressed, such as the nature of the funding (voluntary or mandatory); the question of linkage between the financial responsibilities and the benefits derived from the use of plant genetic resources; and the question of who should bear financial responsibilities (countries, users or consumers). Other important issues remained to be determined, i.e. how the relative needs and entitlements of beneficiaries, especially developing countries, will be estimated; how farmers and local communities would benefit from the funding; whether the fund should be separate, part of a wider mechanism (for example, a window of the funding mechanism of the CBD, or a combination of both); questions relating to its administration and operation; etc.
Basing the fund on equity or efficiency grounds
The notion of Farmers' Rights appears to be founded on grounds of equity, invoking appeals to fairness. It could equally justifiably be based on global efficiency considerations, i.e. an increase in welfare for all concerned, much like the rationale for an intellectual property rights system5. The concept of Farmers' Rights is not just a question of justice and equity, but also of ensuring that the genetic resources on which we all depend are conserved and continue to be made available, particularly by the farmers who directly maintain landraces. Therefore, it should be considered a challenge for the international community to find the mechanisms that internalize the cost of conservation in the cost of production.
The international seed industry and, to a lesser extent, the pharmaceutical industry, depend on plant genetic materials derived from crop varieties selected and improved by farmers in developing countries. Although the knowledge of tribal and rural families is characterized by a high degree of inventiveness, indigenous knowledge is considered part of public knowledge or "public domain" and is, therefore, not subject to intellectual property rights. The products of that knowledge, including folk varieties, land races and genetic diversity at the intra-specific level, provide the basic raw material for modern plant breeding and biotechnology.
The need to strengthen the rights of indigenous peoples and local farmer communities has also been recognized in the Convention 169 of the International Labour Conference: Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, adopted on 27 June 1989, when stipulating that "special measures shall be adopted as appropriate for safeguarding the persons, institutions, property, labour, cultures and environment of the peoples concerned" (Article 4). And more specifically when establishing that "the rights of the people concerned to the natural resources pertaining to their lands shall be specially safeguarded. These rights include the rights of these peoples to participate in the use, management and conservation of these resources" (Article 15.1). "In cases in which the State retains [...] rights to other resources pertaining to lands, governments shall establish or maintain procedures through which they shall consult these peoples, with a view to ascertain whether and to what degree their interests would be prejudiced, before undertaking or permitting any programmes for the exploration or exploitation of such resources pertaining to their lands. The peoples concerned shall wherever possible participate in the benefits of such activities, and shall receive fair compensation for any damages which they may sustain as a result of such activities" (Article 15(2)).
Placing an economic value on indigenous knowledge
Evolving intellectual property theories argue that collecting valuable plants without some form of compensation perpetuates the undervaluation of biological resources, thereby discouraging conservation6. The lack of meaningful preservation efforts by many developing countries, notwithstanding the potential commercial value these vanishing species represent, has been attributed to the negligible tangible benefit the forests' unique biodiversity has brought them7.. Improved economic incentives are necessary with respect to the indigenous peoples that serve as the source of specific information about the use of genetic resources. Since cultural knowledge is valuable for biotechnological innovation, it needs to be assigned economic worth.
The practice tends to protect unique knowledge but not unique resources and raw materials. Trying to extend protection to the knowledge of indigenous peoples challenges this conventional approach.
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1 See Report of the Conference of FAO, Twenty-eighth Session, Rome, 20-31 October 1995: C95/REP, paragraphs 65-66. The Conference adopted Resolution 3/95: "The broadening of the mandate of the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources to cover genetic resources relevant to food and agriculture", see paragraph 69. This Resolution stresses that a Commission with a broader mandate would "provide for effective cooperation with the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centres and in particular the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and with the other interested international governmental and non-governmental organizations".
2 See Report of the Council of FAO, Hundred and Tenth Session, Rome, 2-3 November 1995, CL 110/REP, paragraphs 13-14. The Council adopted Resolution 1/110: "Adoption of the Statutes of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture", to which the Statutes are attached as an Annex.
3 The options for the legal status of the revised IUPGR are: (i) continuation of its present legal status; (ii) adoption as a legally-binding agreement under Article XIV of the FAO Constitution; (iii) adoption as a legally-binding agreement under the auspices of FAO but outside its constitutional framework; (iv) adoption as a legally-binding Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The institutional options for the revised IUPGR are: (i) a Governing Body; (ii) a Scientific and Technical Body; (iii) a Secretariat.
4 In the Eighth Session of the CGRFA, a Contact Group of member countries was established with the aim of facilitating the undergoing negotiations for the IUPGR. It consists of 40 member countries and the European Community.
5 Arvind, Subramanian. 1992. Genetic Resources, Biodiversity and Environmental Protection. In Journal of World Trade.
6 Lyons, Stephen. 1991. Research Pact May Help Rain Forests Pay for Their Keep, Boston Globe, Nov. 4, 1991.
