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The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture within the Current Legal Regime Complex on Plant Genetic Resources
Author(s) -
Gerstetter Christiane,
Görlach Benjamin,
Neumann Kirsten,
Schaffrin Dora
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the journal of world intellectual property
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.334
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1747-1796
pISSN - 1422-2213
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1796.2007.00323.x
Subject(s) - negotiation , intellectual property , convention on biological diversity , treaty , genetic resources , agriculture , convention , political science , international regime , law and economics , international trade , diversity (politics) , international law , business , law , economics , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , biodiversity , ecology
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) entered into force in 2004. It is the most recent piece in the current regime complex on plant genetic resources. However, wherever there are several legally binding international agreements dealing with at least partially overlapping issues, a conflict between them may arise. Such conflicts narrow the leeway that parties to more than one of the treaties have for implementation and may thus also reduce the treaties' potential for reaching their objectives. Against this backdrop, this article investigates the legal relationships between the ITPGRFA, on the one hand, and the Agreement on Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on the other. It arrives at the conclusion that there are no conflicts between the ITPGRFA and any of those treaties at present, while negotiations conducted currently in the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the CBD need carefully to avoid creating such legal conflicts.